Security in spotlight before election as 36 injured in Munich car ramming

MUNICH, Germany — At least 36 people were hurt when a car driven by an Afghan national plowed into a crowd in Munich on Thursday in what prosecutors said was a murder attempt, putting security back in focus before next week's federal election.

The attack came hours before international leaders, including US Vice-President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were due to arrive in the southern German city for the Munich Security Conference.

At least 36 people were injured, some of them seriously, according to the latest police report.

German prosecutors are treating the case as a murder attempt, the prosecutor's office and the police said in a joint statement on Friday.

Police said a white car had approached police vehicles that were accompanying a demonstration of striking workers, before speeding up and slamming into people. One shot was fired at the suspect, but he was not hit, police added.

Alexa Graef, a witness, said she saw the car drive into the crowd, "which looked deliberate".

"I hope it's the last time I see anything like that," said Graef, whose office overlooks the junction where the car struck.

An eyewitness who was among the striking workers told the local BR42 website that he "saw a person lying under the car" after it drove into the crowd.

President of the Verdi union Frank Werneke said in a statement: "We are deeply upset and shocked at the awful incident during a peaceful demonstration by our Verdi colleagues."

The suspect was named Farhad Noori, a 24-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker. Police officers pulled him out of the car after firing a shot at the vehicle, which didn't hit him, and arrested him.

He was in Germany legally, said Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter later on Thursday, correcting an earlier statement by the interior minister that he was in Germany illegally and should have been deported.

News outlet Der Spiegel, citing security sources, reported that the man was believed to have posted Islamist content online before the attack.

Immigration and security issues have dominated campaigning ahead of the Feb 23 election, especially after other violent incidents in recent weeks, with polls showing the center-right conservatives leading, followed by the far right.

Immigrants issue

In December, six people were killed in an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, and last month a toddler and an adult were killed in a knife attack in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg. Immigrants have been arrested in connection with both attacks.

Conservative Friedrich Merz, a front-runner to be Germany's next chancellor, said safety would be his top priority.

"We will enforce law and order. Everyone must feel safe in our country again. Something has to change in Germany," Merz posted on X.

Merz has accused Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz of being soft on immigration, and last month, he even broke a taboo by winning a parliamentary vote on asylum with the support of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD.

The AfD, in second place in polls, also seized on the incident, with co-leader Alice Weidel focusing on the driver being an Afghan asylum-seeker. "Should this go on forever? Migration turnaround now!" she posted on social media platform X.

Scholz condemned the "awful" attack and promised severe consequences.

Agencies - Xinhua