Dozens injured in Munich car ramming as city prepares for high-stakes security conference

The suspect is believed to be a 24-year-old asylum-seeker from Afghanistan, Munich police director, Christian Huber, told reporters. Bavarian governor Markus Söder said the incident “is suspected to be an attack.”

The incident comes during an election campaign that has seen immigration and security emerge as key issues after several similar attacks.

Authorities launched a major operation near the city’s central train station, a spokesperson said. Police detained the driver and did not consider him a further threat, the force said in a post on X. Children were among those injured, according to the city’s mayor, Dieter Reiter.

The man was known to officials in connection with theft and drug offenses, the Associated Press reported, citing Bavaria’s state interior minister, Joachim Herrmann.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Vice President JD Vance and other top diplomats will attend the Munich Security Conference, about 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) from the location of Thursday’s incident.

Söder that local security measures had been bolstered due to the conference, and there are currently “many police officers” in the city center.

The car hit a group of protesters staging a demonstration linked to a strike organized by the Verdi union, according to local broadcaster BR24. Verdi is the key trade union for Germany’s public sector.

Those on the picket line were employees for local childcare services, according to the union, which organized the rally after negotiations for federal and local public service wages had stalled. Verdi said it had no further information on the incident.

Eyewitnesses told Reuters that the car, a cream Mini Cooper, was seen weaving between police vehicles and picking up pace before ramming several people.

“It seemed to me that the car accelerated before it drove into the crowd.”

One person said police shot at the car. “I saw that a man was lying underneath the car,” the eyewitness told German program BR24. “Then I tried to open the door, but it was locked.”

Eventually, the eyewitness retreated and turned to those injured, BR24 reported.

‘Something has to change’

Söder, the Bavarian governor, described the suspected attack as “simply terrible,” adding that “something has to change in Germany, and quickly.”

“We feel for the victims and hope very much that everyone will make it,” he told journalists on Thursday. “We all regret what has just happened here.”

The mayor of the Bavarian city said he was was shocked by the incident, German newspaper Bild reported. “The police president has informed me that a vehicle drove into a group of people and many people were injured,” said Reiter. “I am deeply shaken. My thoughts are with the injured.”

 

Germany has been roiled by divisive rhetoric over the country’s immigration policy, in a nation expected to swing to the right in national elections later this month.

The country’s parliament rejected an opposition draft law cracking down on immigration policy in January. Days earlier, the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) were accused of breaking an agreement against cooperating with the far-right.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has gained momentum after capitalizing on growing anti-immigration sentiment among some voters – following a string of deadly attacks allegedly perpetrated by migrants last winter.

Söder said that receiving the news that another perpetrator had ploughed into a crowd of people with a vehicle, injuring many, felt like a “slap in the face.”

Sebastian Shukla reported from Munich, Sana Noor Haq and Sophie Tanno reported and wrote from London.