A person deliberately drove a automotive into a crowd of individuals watching a carnival procession in a small German city, injuring dozens of individuals — together with youngsters — on Monday, police stated.
The driver was arrested, however police could not instantly present particulars in regards to the man’s motivations for crashing into the carnival procession in Volksmarsen, about 280 kilometres southwest of Berlin.
A spokesman for Frankfurt prosecutors, Alexander Badle, stated in an announcement that “about 30 folks” had been injured, amongst them youngsters. They had been taken to surrounding hospitals, some with life-threatening accidents.
The suspect was additionally injured, stated Badle.
“The investigation, particularly into the circumstances of the crime, continues,” he stated. “In explicit, no info can but be supplied a couple of motive. The investigation is exploring all avenues.”
The incident got here amid the peak of Germany’s celebration of carnival, with the most important parades in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz.
Volkmarsen, which has a inhabitants of seven,000, is east of Düsseldorf, close to Kassel.
Emergency responders arrange a makeshift clinic in a city pharmacy to deal with casualties with minor accidents, the regional Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper reported. Witnesses stated the automotive drove round a barrier blocking visitors from the parade.
Video from the scene confirmed a silver Mercedes station wagon with native licence plates on a sidewalk, its entrance windshield badly smashed and hood dented, and its hazard lights blinking, whereas emergency crews walked by. Forensic specialists might be seen taking pictures and measurements across the crashed automotive, strolling round fragments of carnival costumes that littered the bottom.
Police referred to as off all carnival parades in the German state of Hesse, the place Volkmarsen is situated, as a precautionary measure, however stated they weren’t conscious of any hazard elsewhere in Germany.
The greatest carnival parades happen in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz.
carnival is massively widespread in elements of western Germany, particularly in Rhineland cities corresponding to Cologne and Düsseldorf, the place festivities peak on “Rose Monday” with tens of 1000’s attending avenue parades that includes comical or satirical floats.
The incident comes lower than per week after a person described as a far-right extremist gunned down 11 folks, together with himself.
