Driver plows into crowd in Munich, injuring at least 28 in ‘suspected attack’

BERLIN (AP) — A driver drove a car into a union demonstration in central Munich on Thursday, injuring at least 28 people including children, authorities said. Authorities said it was believed to be an attack, and the suspect — an Afghan asylum-seeker — was arrested.

Participants in a demonstration by the service workers’ union ver.di were walking along a street near downtown Munich at about 10:30 a.m. when the car overtook a police vehicle following the gathering, accelerated and plowed into the back of the group.

Officers arrested the suspect after firing a shot at the car, deputy police chief Christian Huber said. He added that at least 28 people were believed to be injured, some of them seriously. A damaged Mini could be seen at the scene, along with debris including shoes.

The suspect was a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, Huber said.

“It is suspected to be an attack — a lot points to that,” Bavarian governor Markus Söder told reporters at the scene.

The incident follows a series of attacks involving immigrants in recent months that have pushed migration to the forefront of the campaign for Germany’s Feb. 23 election. Most recently, a two-year-old boy and another person were killed in a knife attack in Aschaffenburg, also in Bavaria.

The Bavarian capital will see heavy security in the coming days because the three-day Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of international foreign and security policy officials, opens on Friday.

Bavaria’s state interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said authorities do not believe the car ramming was connected to the conference, but they still need to determine the motive.

Source: The Associated Press

--Agencies