Will the attack on the Christmas market divide Germans over immigration?
Magdeburg has been mired in grief since the attack that killed a nine-year-old and four-year-old boy at a Christmas market on Friday night.
About 200 people were also injured when a man rammed a car into the busy market in the eastern German city.
The suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year old Saudi-born psychiatrist who has lived in Germany since 2006, faces accusations of murder and attempted murder.
Political parties across the spectrum expressed sadness for those affected and promised to beef up security.
In a communication shared with Al Jazeera, Green Party leader Robert Habeck said he wanted the city to have “comfort, strength and confidence. “Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the incident a “terrible and senseless” act.
Nicole Anger, an MP and co-chair of the Left Party in Magdeburg, said the city remained calm and other people remained stunned.
“There are candlelight vigils, services and just a lot of moments of people standing together in solidarity. The salesmen from the Christmas market, which is closed for the rest of the year, have been giving away fruits and vegetables for free,” she told Al Jazeera.
But while many are united in grief, tensions are rising.
Alongside vigils, more than 2,000 far-right supporters bearing banners and chanting slogans against migration gathered in the city on Saturday.
Other rallies would be for Monday.
Anger, who was born and raised in Magdeburg, said the atmosphere reminded him of the mid-1990s, when a man was killed after far-right agitators chased a black men’s organization through the city in what is now It is known as Himmelfahrtskrawalle, or Magdeburg. Ascension Riots.
“Right now, young people and other people with an immigrant background are afraid of ending up on the street,” he said.
The attack occurred as the Germans were closing a stormy political year.
After the Scholz-led coalition collapsed in November, the chancellor issued a vote of confidence in mid-December, triggering early elections.
Germans will go to the polls in February.
Meanwhile, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party continues to gain political ground after successes in state elections this year.
The day before the attack, US billionaire Elon Musk stirred controversy by posting on the X social media platform he owns: “Only the AfD can save Germany.”
Observers described a sense of concern and concern, saying that a blame game over the Magdeburg attack could simply distract from the main issues facing the German electorate.
“We still have to be very careful about the genuine motives of the attacker. But what is evident is that if there is an extremist force in the political discourse that is not only Islamophobic but also phobic towards all foreigners, if it expresses itself so strongly, as the AfD always does, it resonates,” said Justus von Daniels, editor-in-chief of the German publication Correctiv, which announced in January a meeting between the AfD and neo-Nazi activists to discuss a “master plan” for the expulsion of immigrants.
According to him, it will be revealing if Germany acts lately in terms of strengthening security.
As the elections approach, political parties deserve to avoid banking on the AfD’s anti-immigration narrative and focus on the problems facing the electorate, von Daniels said.
“The economy plays a role in these elections, and a case like Magdeburg shifts the public discourse towards migratory factors. If the AfD tries to push the migration factor further, I am worried that the other political parties will react, which is not healthy for the political debate. “
The suspect and his possible motives have puzzled authorities and the public.
Al-Abdulmohsen has described himself as a former Muslim activist on social media. His messages showed disdain for Islam and right-wing ideologies. He said he had read about women fleeing Saudi Arabia, however, a reporter from Correctiv who was in contact with him disputed this claim, reporting that several women blocked him because he was “behaving in a problematic manner. ” Some said they felt sexually harassed through it.
Saudi Arabia said it had warned Germany of the doctor’s presence in November 2023. Germany claimed to have received the information, but in the end Al-Abdulmohsen did not appear to be a risk at the time.
Tahir Abbas, a professor of Islamophobia and political violence at Leiden University in the Netherlands, said the suspect appears to have “a bit of admiration for ethno-nationalist populist ideals. “
“What I think this does is align this particular perpetrator’s motivations more broadly with far-right practices and ideologies, including in relation to the treatment of women,” he said.
“The far right is so hypernormalised across Europe and North America at the moment that there are tremendous challenges that have emerged and will continue to emerge, particularly as President Donald Trump takes the helm in the US again.”
The suspect has made his admiration for far-right European leaders, such as the Dutchman Geert Wilders, transparent on social media. Since the attack, the far right in Germany and across Europe has been quick to use the attack as a weapon to publicize its anti-migration agenda, observers say.
Jorinde Schulz, activist and member of the Left party, said that “the right is allowed to mobilize almost without obstacles. ”
“For them, this attack is a stepping stone to gain more support, which is all the more disturbing since they are the ones who are going to attack people of colour in the street and intimidate political activists.”
On Sunday, police in Bremerhaven, a port city in northern Germany, detained a man who took to TikTok to threaten violence. The man is alleged to have warned he would stab any person of Arabic appearance in the city on Christmas Day, the German news agency dpa reported.