Right-wing extremists demonstrate outside the memorial ceremony
While a memorial ceremony is taking place in the cathedral in Magdeburg, Germany, with a number of leading politicians in attendance, the far-right is holding a demonstration outside. This is reported by the German Spiegel.
Several hundred people are chanting slogans and carrying banners with messages such as repatriation. Among other things, a prominent neo-Nazi is calling for the deportation of “guilty politicians”.
The motive of the suspected perpetrator, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, is not yet fully clear, but prosecutors suspect that his dissatisfaction with Germany’s handling of Saudi refugees is behind it.
al-Abdulmohsen is an anti-Muslim activist who has helped atheist Saudi Arabs seek asylum in the West. On social media, he has expressed support for the far-right AfD party, and conspiracy theories that the German state is trying to Islamize Europe.
Biden condemns – Orbán blames immigration
US President Joe Biden expresses his condolences after the attack in Magdeburg, CNN reports.
“No society – and no family – should have to endure something so dark and hateful, especially in the days before a holiday of joy and peace,” he writes in a statement, and offers all the help the US can provide.
Hungary’s right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán blames the attack on the EU’s migration policy, and says that the union “wants Magdeburg to happen in Hungary too,” according to the AP.
While a memorial ceremony is taking place in the cathedral in Magdeburg, Germany, with a number of leading politicians in attendance, the far-right is holding a demonstration outside. This is reported by the German Spiegel.
Several hundred people are chanting slogans and carrying banners with messages such as repatriation. Among other things, a prominent neo-Nazi is calling for the deportation of “guilty politicians”.
The motive of the suspected perpetrator, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, is not yet fully clear, but prosecutors suspect that his dissatisfaction with Germany’s handling of Saudi refugees is behind it.
al-Abdulmohsen is an anti-Muslim activist who has helped atheist Saudi Arabs seek asylum in the West. On social media, he has expressed support for the far-right AfD party, and conspiracy theories that the German state is trying to Islamize Europe.
Biden condemns – Orbán blames immigration
US President Joe Biden expresses his condolences after the attack in Magdeburg, CNN reports.
“No society – and no family – should have to endure something so dark and hateful, especially in the days before a holiday of joy and peace,” he writes in a statement, and offers all the help the US can provide.
Hungary’s right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán blames the attack on the EU’s migration policy, and says that the union “wants Magdeburg to happen in Hungary too,” according to the AP.
Terrorism expert on the driver: “Truly unusual profile”
Friday night’s deadly car attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg brings back dark memories for Germans. The approach is very similar to the terrorist attack in Berlin eight years ago, when 13 people were killed and 67 injured when a truck plowed through a Christmas market.
But when it comes to the perpetrator, the act differs – in Berlin the attacker was an Islamist, and in Magdeburg Taleb al-Abdulmohsen is described as an Islamophobe.
– This is a really unusual perpetrator profile. A 50-year-old from Saudi Arabia, a doctor and above all someone who has positioned himself very specifically as anti-Muslim, as an Islamophobe, says German terror expert Peter Neumann to NTV according to Focus.
In an interview with Tagesspiegel Daily, Neumann says that there are two alternatives to al-Abdulmohsen's motive. The first is that he is said to have developed his own "bizarre ideology" to get people to turn against Muslims and vote for the far-right AfD party. The second is that he suffered from a mental illness.
Friday night’s deadly car attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg brings back dark memories for Germans. The approach is very similar to the terrorist attack in Berlin eight years ago, when 13 people were killed and 67 injured when a truck plowed through a Christmas market.
But when it comes to the perpetrator, the act differs – in Berlin the attacker was an Islamist, and in Magdeburg Taleb al-Abdulmohsen is described as an Islamophobe.
– This is a really unusual perpetrator profile. A 50-year-old from Saudi Arabia, a doctor and above all someone who has positioned himself very specifically as anti-Muslim, as an Islamophobe, says German terror expert Peter Neumann to NTV according to Focus.
In an interview with Tagesspiegel Daily, Neumann says that there are two alternatives to al-Abdulmohsen's motive. The first is that he is said to have developed his own "bizarre ideology" to get people to turn against Muslims and vote for the far-right AfD party. The second is that he suffered from a mental illness.
Group for ex-Muslims: He terrorized us for years
Mina Ahadi, chairwoman of the German Central Council of Ex-Muslims, describes Taleb al-Abdulmohsen as a "psychopath" who "terrorized us for years". This is reported by the German Spiegel.
– The perpetrator in Magdeburg does not only hate Muslims, but everyone who does not share his hatred, she says.
al-Abdulmohsen had been employed as a psychiatrist in the penal system in his hometown of Bernburg, south of Magdeburg, since 2020. However, he had been absent since October due to “holiday and illness”, according to colleagues.
He was strongly critical of Islam and involved in helping Saudi women seek asylum in the West. According to prosecutors, the motive for the attack may be dissatisfaction with how Saudi refugees are treated in Germany.
On social media, he has expressed conspiracy theories that the German state is trying to Islamize Europe and oppress Saudi refugees, and threatened with “revenge”, according to Bild.
Mina Ahadi, chairwoman of the German Central Council of Ex-Muslims, describes Taleb al-Abdulmohsen as a "psychopath" who "terrorized us for years". This is reported by the German Spiegel.
– The perpetrator in Magdeburg does not only hate Muslims, but everyone who does not share his hatred, she says.
al-Abdulmohsen had been employed as a psychiatrist in the penal system in his hometown of Bernburg, south of Magdeburg, since 2020. However, he had been absent since October due to “holiday and illness”, according to colleagues.
He was strongly critical of Islam and involved in helping Saudi women seek asylum in the West. According to prosecutors, the motive for the attack may be dissatisfaction with how Saudi refugees are treated in Germany.
On social media, he has expressed conspiracy theories that the German state is trying to Islamize Europe and oppress Saudi refugees, and threatened with “revenge”, according to Bild.
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