German Christmas market attack suspect held on murder charges

A man suspected of driving a car into a German Christmas market in an attack that killed at least five people and injured scores of others faces charges of murder and attempted murder, police said on Sunday, after the man was remanded in custody.
 
Police in the central city of Magdeburg, where the attack happened on Friday, also reported scuffles at a far-right demonstration attended by around 2,100 people on Saturday night, while other residents took part in sombre remembrance events.
 
The suspect is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia who has lived in Germany for almost two decades.
 
A magistrate ordered the man into pre-trial custody after prosecutors pressed charges of murder on five counts, multiple counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, according to a police statement.

It identified the dead as a nine-year-old boy and four adult women, aged 52, 45, 75 and 67.

German authorities have not named the suspect, who has permanent resident status in Germany, and local media reports do not give his full name in keeping with local privacy law. International media, including BBC News and the Guardian, however, are identifying the accused as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen.

The suspect's X account describes him as a former Muslim. It is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion, while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the "Islamification of Europe." He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Police reported scuffles at a protest attended by around 2,100 people on Saturday night, one day after the attack. Right-wingers had billed the gathering on messaging app Telegram as a "demonstration against terror."

Protesters wearing black balaclavas could be seen holding a large banner with the word "remigration," a term popular with far-right supporters seeking the mass deportation of migrants and people deemed not ethnically German.

The motive in Friday night's attack remains unclear.