Dramatic footage has emerged capturing the moments when police arrested a suspect after a horrific car-ramming attack at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday. The suspect, lying on the ground near a vehicle, was confronted by officers following the incident, which left two people dead, including a child, and 68 others injured.

The footage, verified by the German news agency DPA, shows the suspect’s arrest on a walkway in the middle of a road. In the video, the man is seen lying on the ground as a police officer, positioned just meters away with a handgun drawn, commands him to remain still. Moments later, more officers arrive at the scene, swiftly moving in to take the man into custody.

The arrest comes in the aftermath of an attack that shattered the festive atmosphere at the heart of the city, turning a place of joy and celebration into one of shock and grief.

Additional Footage showing the Arrest of the Suspect who committed tonight’s Ramming Attack on a Christmas Market in the German City of Magdeburg pic.twitter.com/Anpr0Ibso9

— S (@jackieeboy17) December 20, 2024

Authorities identified the suspect as a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian doctor who has been practicing medicine in Bernburg, around 40 kilometers south of Magdeburg. He reportedly moved to Germany in 2006.

Saxony-Anhalt’s governor, Reiner Haseloff, confirmed the attacker acted alone, stating, “As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city.”

Families gathered around the large Christmas tree at the heart of Magdeburg’s festive market were enjoying the holiday atmosphere when a BMW suddenly ploughed through the crowd. Officials have cautioned that the death count could rise, with 15 people sustaining critical injuries.

According to a report in The Guardian, Hans-Jakob Schindler, a terrorist expert, told German media, “In the first instance it’s a surprise that a vehicle of that size was able to drive onto a Christmas market in Germany.”

Germany hosts between 2,500 and 3,000 Christmas markets each year, drawing visitors nationwide for a month-long celebration that runs from late November to just after Christmas. Ensuring the safety of these festive gatherings has been a key concern since 2016, when a truck was deliberately driven into a busy Christmas market in Berlin by an Islamist extremist. The attack claimed 13 lives and left many others injured. The perpetrator was later shot dead by the police in Italy.

Just two weeks ago, German authorities announced they had thwarted a potential terror plot targeting a Christmas market in Bavaria. Acting on information from a foreign intelligence agency, a 37-year-old Iraqi man was arrested. According to reports from the German newspaper Welt, the suspect had allegedly shared social media posts glorifying violence and had photographed the Augsburg Christmas market. He was also reported to have expressed intentions of driving a vehicle into the market.

Situated southeast of Berlin in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg is home to around 2.40 lakh people.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday refuted Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s claims regarding the former insisting the inclusion of billionaire George Soros in an invite list to a 2009 dinner in the US.

Mr Tharoor said his and Mr Puri’s recollections of the dinner hosted by the latter during his tenure as the Indian Ambassador to the US differ. “I was completely unaware of any Mr Soros having any connection to any foundation in India – and have never discussed it with him either. All I remember hearing from him at that occasion was his strong objection to our government’s stand on the West’s responsibility for global warming,” The Thiruvananthapuram MP wrote in a post on X.

.Our recollections differ, dear Hardeep. There were several guests present at your well-attended dinner whom i had never met before. But i am not objecting; it is entirely appropriate that on such an occasion the Indian Ambassador should have a guest-list spanning a wide…

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 21, 2024

The matter began on December 15 when an X user who identified himself as a BJP worker from Karnataka showed Mr Tharoor an old post from 2009 in which Mr Tharoor wrote, “Met old friend George Soros, upbeat about India and curious about our neighbourhood. He’s far more than an investor: a concerned world citizen.”

On Friday, Mr Puri responded to Mr Tharoor‘s post on X that he met US billionaire George Soros at a formal dinner at the former’s New York home. Mr Puri indicated the Congress MP did not show the whole picture – he said it was Mr Tharoor himself who gave the list of invitees for the dinner, and the “gentleman in question was among the benefactors of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, and the Minister of State was keen to meet him.”

Mr Puri went on to say that it became clear in retrospect that Mr Soros was an invitee because he was among the benefactors of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. He added that that was why Mr Tharoor, then Minister of State External Affairs, wanted to meet him.

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