At least 28 people have been injured, including children, after a car was driven into a crowd in a “suspected attack” in Munich, authorities said.
A 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, Farhad N, has been arrested after officers fired a shot at the vehicle.
Image: The suspect Farhad N
Workers taking part in a union demonstration were walking along a street when the car overtook a police vehicle that was accompanying the group, according to officers in the German city.
They said the car then sped up and ploughed into the back of the group.
Image: Police investigate a car following the crash. Pic: Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay
Bavaria state premier Markus Soeder said the incident was “suspected to be an attack”. Some of the victims were seriously injured, and the motive was unclear.
Officials believe the protest, by the service workers’ union ver.di, was likely targeted at random, according to state interior minister Joachim Herrmann.
He said the suspect was known to authorities in connection with theft and drug offences.
The man’s asylum application had been rejected, but he had not been forced to leave due to security concerns in Afghanistan, said Mr Herrmann.
Image: Officers at the scene. Pic: Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay
People were ‘crying and shaking’
A damaged Mini was pictured at the scene, along with items of clothing and bags, a broken pram, a shoe and a pair of glasses.
Sandra Demmelhuber, a journalist for local broadcaster BR24, posted an image on X showing the car surrounded by police and emergency crews.
She said: “There is a person lying on the street and a young man was taken away by the police. People were sitting on the ground, crying and shaking.”
Image: The incident occurred in central Munich
A ‘terrible attack’
The incident happened at a square near downtown Munich, close to the city’s central train station at around 10.30am (9.30am UK time), police said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the events “horrible” and a “terrible attack”, saying “an Afghan perpetrator has severely injured people, and that is not something that we can tolerate or accept”.
“This perpetrator cannot hope for any leniency. He must be punished and he must leave the country.
“The government will be starting flights back to Afghanistan despite the lack of diplomatic ties.”
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Police reveal details about Munich attack
The incident is not suspected to be connected to the upcoming Munich Security Conference which starts on Friday around a mile away.
Security has been in sharp focus in Germany following a spate of attacks involving migrants in recent months and ahead of a federal election later in February.
Image: Emergency services at the scene. Pic: Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP
A two-year-old boy and a man were killed in a knife attack last month in Aschaffenburg, also in Bavaria. An Afghan whose asylum application was rejected was the suspect in that attack.
Image: A pram on the road near the scene. Picture: Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay
The killings followed knife attacks in Mannheim and in Solingen last year in which the suspects were migrants from Afghanistan and Syria, respectively – in the latter case, also a rejected asylum seeker who was supposed to have left the country.
A Saudi doctor known to authorities was the suspect in December when a car rammed people at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing six.
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Image: Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Image: Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.