Police say the suspect is a 24-year-old Afghanistan national who has been apprehended at the scene of the incident, which the authorities believe was intentional.
At least 28 people have been injured in Munich after a car drove into a crowd of demonstrators near the city’s centre, police said.
The driver, identified as a 24-year-old Afghanistan-born man currently in Germany as an asylum seeker, was arrested on-site and posed no further danger, authorities confirmed.
Bavaria’s Minister President Markus Söder said the incident was “presumably an attack”. He added that it appeared there were some dead among the victims. Munich’s mayor Dieter Reiter said that “many people have been injured, including children.”
A police spokesperson said that the car approached a demonstration organised by Verdi, one of Germany’s largest trade unions, from behind, before overtaking a police vehicle and ploughing into the crowd.
Police said they believed the suspect acted alone.
Regional public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), citing police sources, said the exact number of injured was difficult to establish, as some had fled to surrounding buildings for protection.
Local media reported that one person had been killed and several people seriously injured. The authorities have asked the public not to speculate until further information becomes available.
The Bavarian city is set to host scores of world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US Vice President JD Vance, for the Munich Security Conference from Friday to Sunday.
