Protests escalate in Germany's Munich after car-ramming attack
On Thursday, a 24-year-old Afghan national drove a car into a trade union demonstration in Munich, injuring at least 39 people, some seriously. A 37-year-old woman and her 2-year-old daughter died on Saturday as a result of their injuries.
Investigators in the state of Bavaria currently assume that the crime had an Islamist motive, based on statements made by the driver after his arrest.
The far-right anti-migrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) staged a vigil on Munich's central square Königsplatz on Sunday, a few hundred metres from the scene of the attack.
Those opposed to exploiting the attack for political purposes held their own demonstration opposite the AfD gathering. Police put the number attending the AfD vigil at 70, and the demonstration at 600.
Around 50 counter-protesters formed a human chain to prevent AfD supporters from laying flowers at the site of the attack, police said.
Footage showed police then using force on several people, as witnesses also reported. Police said they briefly detained eight people for offences against a ban on wearing masks and an attempt to cause bodily harm to police officers.
In a statement published by the Munich authorities on their official website earlier on Sunday, the family of the woman and child had appealed for the attack not to be used to foment hatred.
"Amel was a person who worked for justice," the statement said, emphasizing that she had been active in seeking rights for workers and in promoting solidarity and equality.
Amel, who was born in Algeria and came to Germany at the age of 4, had been opposed to xenophobia and had wanted to pass these values on to her daughter, Hafsa, the statement said.
Bavarian premier calls for negotiations with Taliban on deportations
The political debate in the aftermath of the attack centred on the issue of deportations, with Bavarian Premier Markus Söder calling for immediate negotiations with the Taliban on deportation flights to Afghanistan.
"A flight is needed every week," Söder told the Sunday edition of Germany's Bild newspaper. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser should speak directly to the Taliban about deportation flights from Monday, he said.
Söder said there are almost 2,000 Afghans in the state of Bavaria alone who are required to leave Germany. Almost 200 of them are serious offenders, he added.
"Afghans obliged to leave the country must do so quickly, and the issuance of new visas [for Afghans] must be stopped for the foreseeable future," the conservative premier said.
"First Aschaffenburg, now Munich: Enough is enough. Germany needs an emergency plan for Afghanistan," he said, referring to another attack committed by an Afghan national in a different Bavarian city in January, which left two people dead.
According to the authorities, the alleged perpetrator of the attack in Munich was legally resident in Germany.
A court judgement rejecting his asylum application from October 2020 showed that he is said to have lied about his escape story. However, Munich city issued a toleration decision in April 2021 and granted the man a residence permit in October of the same year.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday said the man will be deported after serving his sentence. "Anyone who does something like this must expect the harshest penalties," he said.
The first deportation flight from Germany to Afghanistan since the Taliban took power three years ago took place in August 2024. It transported 28 convicted criminals who had received deportation orders back to their home country.
Faeser emphasized after the attack in Munich that deportations to Afghanistan would continue. However, such flights are difficult to implement as they require cooperation with the Taliban, either directly or indirectly via neighbouring countries.
The Taliban expressed openness to cooperating on deportations in the wake of the attack in Munich, but demanded a consular presence in Germany in return. "We have shown our willingness to resume consular services for Afghans in Germany that cover all aspects of migration," Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi told dpa.
Critics have warned in the past against such talks with the Islamist Taliban, which is isolated internationally. The Taliban could benefit from deportations by using them as an opportunity to work with a Western state, they warn.
Parliamentary committee to hold special session
The internal affairs committee of the German Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, is planning to hold a special session this week to find out more about the background to the attack and the ongoing investigation.
The meeting is expected to be held on Wednesday, according to members of the committee, but the time has not yet been set.
The leaders of the parliamentary groups received initial information about the case in a telephone conference from the Interior Ministry.
"Despite the perpetrator's statement during the interrogation, the question of motive remains the focus of attention," Martina Renner, an expert on domestic policy from The Left party, said.
Due to the particular significance of the case, the Federal Prosecutor General has taken over the investigation.
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