Heartbreaking tributes have been paid to the nine-year-old boy tragically killed in Friday’s Christmas market massacre.
André Gleißner was murdered after a suspect reported to be a Saudi exile rammed a black BMW rental car into a crowd of people at Magdeburg Christmas market shortly after 7pm Friday night. As well as Andre, another four women aged between 45 and 75 were killed, with more than 200 injured.
Other victims of the Christmas Market atrocity have spoken of their horror at being caught up in the attack. Their disturbing accounts began to emerge on Sunday morning after suspect Taleb al-Abdulmohsen was formally remanded in custody by a German court.
The 50-year-old was brought before a judge on Saturday night and told he faces charges of murdering a nine-year-old boy and four women, aged 45, 52, 67 and 75. He also faces multiple counts of attempted murder and of dangerous bodily harm.
Marco Forciniti, 39, was among 205 people were hurt, including 41 seriously, when a BMW sped through crowds in the city of Magdeburg on Friday evening. He is in hospital with two broken legs and ankles.
Speaking from his bed, the VW controller said: “My friend Nadine and I arrived in the early evening. We arrive from Wolfsburg and have been going to Magdeburg for a few years to the Christmas market because it is so beautiful with its ice rink and cozy atmosphere.
“Then I looked at the phone for a moment and read about the tariff agreement at VW. The second I was happy about it, it happened. The BMW caught me full, I flew over the car through the force of the impact.
“After that I don’t know anything. I was probably lying on the road for an hour and a half, a doctor took care of my foot, which was twisted by 90 degrees. Then I came to the University Hospital Magdeburg, lying on the trauma surgery. Even today I have to be operated on.”
Anne, 40, and her husband Matthias, 49, were also among those injured in the attack. She was released from hospital with a black eye and severe bruises on Saturday afternoon. Her husband is still being treated as an inpatient.
She said: “We were looking forward to a kale meal at the Christmas market. I don’t know what happened. At some point I woke up, there were lights everywhere. I called for my husband and thought I was in a dream.”
Anne says she and her husband feel lucky to be alive, but will never attend another Christmas market. She added: “My husband is glad that we are still alive. That could have turned out differently.”
A message of mourning has been uploaded to the market’s website, which reads: “We are in deep mourning, and our hearts and thoughts are with the victims, relatives and helpers. The Christmas market and the world of lights are over.”
Meanwhile, thousands of people are today continuing to light candles and lay flowers and soft toys at the scene in tribute to the victims. And officials say citizens have begun registering to give blood after Magdeburg University Hospital has organised a special donation event for Monday in order to replenish reserves.
The alleged driver, Dr Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, originally from Saudi Arabia, is understood to have moved to Germany in 2006. He is believed to be a former Shia Muslim from the city of Al-Hofuf who turned his back on his religion and became anti-Islam.
It has been claimed Saudi security officials tried to warn German authorities about him a year ago and that they failed to respond to concerns.
He reportedly posted online about killing Germans en masse months before the attack, claiming “slaughtering German citizens indiscriminately” could be a “path to justice”.
He allegedly supported comments made by far-right activist Tommy Robinson on social media, posted messages about Germany’s right-wing opposition party Alternative for Germany, and accused his adopted country of failing to address the “Islamism of Europe”.
And he shared dozens of tweets and retweets a day focusing on anti-Islam themes, criticising the religion and congratulating Muslims who had left the faith.
Security sources say he was first identified as a potential danger in 2007 when Saudi authorities warned counterparts in Germany that the doctor had expressed “radical views of varying kinds”.
A second source claimed four official warnings to Germany were ignored.
And Saudi Arabia even requested his extradition from Germany between 2007 and 2008, a source claimed – but the German authorities refused, citing concerns for the doctor’s safety.
Meanwhile it emerged he may have launched his attack because of his dissatisfaction over the treatment of Saudi Arabian refugees in Germany. It came after Magdeburg police admitted he was in their sights a year ago.
In posts on treatment of refugees he said: “If Germany wants a war, we will fight it. If Germany wants to kill us, we will slaughter them, die, or go to prison with pride.”
In a BBC documentary in 2019, al-Abdulmohsen spoke about helping others to get asylum outside of Saudi Arabia and described himself as an “ex-Muslim” living in exile in Germany.
He claimed his life was threatened in his native Saudi Arabia and he was
spending up to 16 hours a day assisting asylum seekers.
Police started receiving emergency calls just after 7pm on Friday about a car speeding through the busy market, which has 160 stalls and normally
attracts some two million visitors a year.
Witness Matthias Zapf, 47, said: “I saw the people flying through the air when the car crashed into the crowd. You can’t get that picture out of your mind.”
Student Arick Rose, 20, said the sound of the car driving through crowds of people was loud “like a rollercoaster”.
He said: “Everybody screamed and raced around and nobody really knew what was going on. Then we realised something really really bad had happened.”
Others described “war-like conditions”, while one firefighter said: “It was
like something out of a bad movie. People were lying on the left and right. The only thing that went through my mind was who am I going to help now?
“With a permanent marker, I wrote the words green, yellow or red on the injured people’s faces, depending on how severe their injuries were.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser travelled to Magdeburg on Saturday to visit the scene of the attack.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, Ms Faeser said: “The perpetrator was evidently Islamophobic – we can confirm that. Everything else is a matter for further investigation.”
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