A car went to a crowd in the city of Mannheim in Mannheim, in the Western German, killing at least two people and seriously injuring several others, eclipseing the carnival celebrations in the region where the police had been alert for the attacks.
Police arrested the driver of the car and then said he had acted alone, without a broader threat to the public. The suspect is a 40-year-old German man from the neighboring state of Renania-Palatinated who did not seem politically motivated, they said.
People were lying on the floor at the scene and at least two were being resuscitated, said a witness Reuters.
It was not clear if the driver deliberately acted or if there was any connection with the German Carnival celebrations, which culminated in Rose on Monday with a series of parades, although not in Mannheim, which celebrated his main event on Sunday.
The police refused to comment on the identity of the suspect, saying that this was a focus of his investigation.
Security has been a key concern in Germany after a series of violent attacks in recent weeks, including mortal cars in Magdeburg in December and in Munich last month, as well as a stabbing in Mannheim in May 2024.
Police were on a maximum alert for this year’s carnival parades after the social networks accounts linked to the Islamic State terrorist group asked for attacks on events in Colonia and Nuremberg.
The German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, canceled her attendance at the parade in Colonia on Monday, the largest in Germany, due to the events in Mannheim, said a minister’s spokesman.
Rose on Monday, the culmination of the annual carnival season held in the Western and South Catholic regions of Germany, presents parades of floats that often include comic or satirical references to current issues.
This year’s Carnival has included floats with US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the technological billionaire Elon Musk and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
Dresses with traditional jester costumes and a colorful makeup with color, thousands of party attendees danced through the streets of Colonia, Dusseldorf and other cities in the west and southern Germany before the fasting season of Lent.
