One dead, several injured as car rams into shoppers in Mannheim: German police
One person has been killed and several others have been injured in the German city of Mannheim after a car rammed into a crowd in a downtown shopping area amid tight police security.
German police said on Monday that the car drove into a group of pedestrians in the city.
Conflicting media sources reported that two people were killed and 25 injured in the incident.
In the meantime, police cordoned off the inner city of Mannheim where a damaged car with a smashed front windshield sat near the shopping arcade where the incident took place.
The Ford passenger vehicle was driven through the downtown shopping area at around 12:15 pm local time (11:15 GMT).
“We can now confirm that a car was driven into a pedestrian zone and that one person was killed,” police spokesman Stefan Wilhelm said, adding that several people were injured.
“One suspect was arrested,” Wilhelm said.
The police spokesman said locals had been urged “to avoid the inner city area” as law enforcement officers launched a major operation in the vicinity of the incident, with police helicopters circling in the air.
"It's heartbreaking," cafe owner Kasim Timur, 57, was quoted as telling news site Der Spiegel, adding that one of his staff members had seen seriously injured with other people, including children.
In May, the city of Manheim was the scene of a deadly an anti-Muslim rally in which one policeman was fatally stabbed and five other people were wounded.
Police did not refer to today's incident as an "attack. However, there were two other car ramming attacks in other German cities in recent months.
Several stabbing sprees and car ramming attacks have been blamed on asylum seekers.
In February, a man drove a car into a trade union demonstration in Munich, killing two. Police arrested a 24-year-old Afghan suspect.
In December 2024, a car-ramming attack targeted a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, killing six people and wounding hundreds more.
Police arrested a Saudi medical doctor at the scene of the deadly attack.
A Syrian man was arrested and charged for the May stabbing attack in Mannheim.
German authorities were on high alert as Monday is the high point of traditional carnival celebrations before the beginning of Lent in Germany.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said before the incident in Mannheim that festivities were taking place "with high security precautions."
Security has turned into a major political issue in Germany.
The February general election was won by the center-right CDU/CSU under Friedrich Merz.
Merz, who has vowed to enforce "zero tolerance" security, is now in talks with the Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz to form a new coalition government.
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