Germany: Magdeburg butcher remanded in custody – Authorities in the dark about his motives –

The 50-year-old man who caused death at Magdeburg’s Christmas market was remanded in custody. in East Germany on Friday night killing at least 5 people including a 9-year-old child and injuring over 200 when he drove his car into the crowd.

Earlier he appeared before the investigator and according to the Prosecutor’s Office he is accused of five murders and 200 cases of attempted murder.

However, the investigations will continue – at least initially – by the police of Saxony-Anhalt. According to the information so far, the police believe that the attacker acted alone, without accomplices, while it has been confirmed that he was not known to the authorities as an Islamist.

The motivation of Taleb A. remains unclear, while senior prosecutor Horst Knoppens told Der Spiegel magazine that a possible motive could be “dissatisfaction with the way Saudi refugees are treated in Germany”.

Specialist researcher on extremism Hans Goldenbaum explained to the MDR network yesterday that the alleged attacker had been critical of Islam for years and adopted far-right narratives in his posts, such as the alleged population exchange and the theory of the Islamization of European societies. . “We find conspiratorial – ideological elements”, added Mr. Goldenbaum and argued that the security authorities cannot be automatically blamed. “The internet is very confusing. There are many players and we will have to wait and see what else will emerge,” the researcher stressed.

In addition, as reported by BILD, the German authorities had been informed about the “extremist activity” of Taleb A. from the Saudi Arabian embassy on July 30, 2023, November 28, 2023, and September 2, 2024. “The German authorities apparently did not take this seriously. They assumed that the Saudis just wanted to arrest an opponent of their regime and silence him,” comments BILD.

Earlier in the city’s Cathedral, in the presence of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Solz, a memorial ceremony was held in a particularly charged atmosphere for the victims of last night’s attack on the outdoor Christmas market. After the ceremony, Mr. Soltz wrote on his X platform account of “a moving moment of compassion and solidarity for a deeply affected city. All of Germany stands by the people of Magdeburg in these dark hours,” he stressed.