Car strikes crowd, killing two in Germany
Police have detained a local man after a car was driven into a crowd during carnival celebrations in the western city.
Authorities have confirmed two people have died and several others were injured during the attack in Mannheim.
Police detained the car’s driver and later said he had acted alone, with no broader threat seen for the public – despite the attack, which overshadowed carnival celebrations in the region where police have been on alert for security attacks.
The suspect is a 40-year-old German man from the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate, broadcaster SWR reported, citing the state interior minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Thomas Strobl.
People were seen lying on the ground at the scene and at least two were being resuscitated, an eyewitness told Reuters.
It was unclear whether the driver acted deliberately or if there was any connection to Germany’s carnival celebrations. They culminated on Rose Monday with parades, although not in Mannheim, which held its main event on Sunday (local time).
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Police declined to comment on the suspect’s identity, saying this was a focus of their investigation.
Police spokesman Stefan Wilhelm said the suspect drove into people on Paradeplatz, a pedestrian street downtown about noon when workers come for lunch breaks.
Local media reported a carnival market was taking place, meaning more visitors than usual in Mannheim. The city normally has a population of 326,000.
Mannheim University Hospital said they were treating three people, two adults and a child, DPA reported.
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It was not immediately clear whether other hospitals received patients.
Images from the scene showed parts of the downtown area cordoned off, with a heavy police presence.
Officers gathered round a badly damaged black car.
Security has been a key concern in Germany following a string of violent attacks in recent weeks, including deadly car rammings in Magdeburg in December and in Munich last month, as well as a stabbing in Mannheim in May 2024.
Police were on high alert for this year’s carnival parades after social media accounts linked to the Islamic State militant group called for attacks on the events in Cologne and Nuremberg.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser cancelled her attendance at the parade in Cologne on Monday, Germany’s biggest, due to the events in Mannheim, a spokesperson for the minister said.
Rose Monday, the culmination of the annual carnival season celebrated in Germany’s mainly Catholic western and southern regions, features parades of floats that often include comical or satirical references to current affairs.
Dressed in traditional jester costumes and sporting colourful makeup, thousands of partygoers danced through the streets of Cologne, Dusseldorf and other cities in western and southern Germany ahead of the fasting season of Lent.
– with DPA and AP
