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After an assailant driving an S.U.V. killed five people, calls for solidarity have quickly given way to criticism by rival lawmakers, ahead of snap elections set for February.
By Melissa Eddy
Reporting from Berlin
Days after an attacker drove a van. After killing five more people at a Christmas market in eastern Germany, calls for solidarity gave way to political shootings, as questions emerged on Monday about authorities’ inability to save the deaths.
The police are holding a Saudi refugee, a 50-year-old doctor, who they say carried out the attack. He had been living in Germany for nearly two decades.
However, the killings in the eastern city of Magdeburg have brought immigration and security considerations back to the forefront, with political leaders on Monday taking a stand on burning issues ahead of early elections scheduled for February.
Despite calls not to use the attack for political purposes, complaints from the German government, including Elon Musk, have emerged from all sides. The fallout threatens to fuel what is already shaping up to be a brief but intense crusade following the government’s collapse after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in parliament last week.
The far-right Alternative for Germany party held a rally in Magdeburg on Monday. Hundreds of people attended the event in the city center, chanting “If you don’t like Germany, leave it” and “Expel it!”»
Before the demonstration, the party’s chancellor candidate, Alice Weidel, made it clear that the occasion would also be used for political purposes.
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