Chancellor Merz calls for peaceful coexistence as Germany marks the first anniversary of a deadly Christmas market attack in Magdeburg.
MAGDEBURG: Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for “peaceful coexistence” as Germany marked the first anniversary of a deadly car-ramming attack at a Christmas market.
Merz addressed a church ceremony in the city of Magdeburg, where the December 20, 2024, attack killed six people and wounded more than 300 others.
“May we all find, today in this commemoration, comfort and peaceful coexistence, especially as Christmas approaches,” he told those gathered at the Protestant Johanniskirche.
He added that Germany was still “a country where we show unconditional solidarity — especially when injustice prevails — standing shoulder to shoulder wherever violence erupts”.
The market, which reopened on November 20, remained closed on Saturday out of respect for the victims.
It is now guarded by armed police and protected by concrete barricades.
Saudi man Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, 51, is currently on trial for the attack.
He has admitted to ploughing a rented SUV through the crowd in an attack prosecutors say was inspired by a mix of personal grievances, far-right and anti-Islam views.
Merz’s speech came eight months before regional elections, with the far-right AfD riding high in opinion polls in Saxony-Anhalt state.
The market attack happened during campaigning for legislative elections and fed into a fierce debate about immigration and security.
On December 13, German police said they had arrested five men suspected of planning a similar vehicle attack on a Christmas market in Bavaria.
Police and prosecutors said they had detained an Egyptian, three Moroccans and a Syrian over the alleged plot.
