At least 20 people were injured when a car plowed into a crowd in Munich on Thursday, according to police, as the southern German city prepares for a high-level security conference with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Bild newspaper said police would have to establish whether the driver of the Mini Cooper had deliberately driven into the crowd or mixed up the accelerator and brake.
Driver Detained
Munich police said on X they had detained the driver of the car that drove into the crowd and did not consider him to pose any further threat but declined to comment on whether it was an accident.
According to Al Jazeera, the car’s driver is a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, previously known to police for drug offences and petty theft.
“At least 20 people injured, some seriously and critically,” a spokesperson for Munich police said.
Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said he was “deeply shocked” by the incident, adding that children were among those injured.
Munich Security Conference
The Munich Security Conference starts on Friday and senior officials, including Vance and Zelenskyy, were arriving later on Thursday.
A large-scale police operation was underway near the city’s central train station.
“One person is lying on the street and a young man has been taken away by the police. People are sitting on the ground, crying and trembling,” a reporter for the local BR broadcaster wrote in a post on X.
Demonstrators Affected
The incident appeared to have affected people participating in a demonstration linked to a strike organised by the Verdi union, according to the broadcaster.
The union said it did not have any information on the incident.
Police set up a gathering point for witnesses in the Loewenbraeukeller, one of Munich’s oldest beer halls.
The incident occurred around 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) from the security conference venue.
Security has been in sharp focus in Germany ahead of a federal election next week and following a string of violent attacks.
(With inputs from Reuters)
