A car has driven into a group of people in Munich, leaving at least 28 people injured in a suspected attack.
The police department in the German city has confirmed a major incident is underway, less than 24 hours before the Munich Security Conference is due to begin.
The driver involved in the accident was arrested by the police. According to information given to German national newspaper BILD, the suspect is a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seekerwho is only known to the police for drug and theft offenses.
Officers are working to verify what has happened, but at around 10.30am, the Mini driver is said to have accelerated and then sped into the more than 1,000 demonstrators on the road. Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder told a press conference: "It is suspected that this was an attack."
Members of the emergency services work at the scene where a car drove into a crowd in the southern German city of Munich
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A pram lies on the road beside a car that drove into a crowd
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Police at the scene in Munich
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Members of the emergency services work at the scene where a car drove into a crowd in the southern German city of Munich
MICHAELA STACHE/AFP via Getty Images
US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky are arriving in the Bavarian city later today for the Munich Security Conference.
An eyewitness told local media that the car deliberately drove into the crowd. Eyewitnesses also spoke of two men, one of whom was shot by the police and carried away. Munich-based paper Süddeutsche reports that one woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Another witness said: "I went with the demonstration...I saw that a man was lying under the car. Then I tried to open the door, but it was locked."
An eyewitness on the scene said that the Mini had hit a woman with a child. The demonstrator said: "Mother and child were apparently lying under the car."
Members of the emergency services work at the scene
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Police secures the area after a car drove into a crowd in Munich, Germany
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The incident appears to have affected people participating in a demonstration linked to a strike organised by the Verdi union, according to the local BR broadcaster. The union said it did not have any information on the incident.
Munich mayor Dieter Reiter told BILD: "The police chief has just informed me that a vehicle drove into a group of people and unfortunately many people were injured, including children. I am deeply shocked. My thoughts are with the injured."
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.
In December, a car drove into a group of people at a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg, leaving at least two dead and nearly 70 injured.
A view of the scene after a car plowed into a crowd in the southern German city of Munich
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A spokesman from the Munich Security Conference said: "We were deeply saddened to learn that a tragic incident occurred this morning in the Munich city centre in which a vehicle drove into a crowd of people.
"Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. The emergency services are at the scene and an investigation is underway to determine the cause of this incident. We ask everyone to remain calm and follow the instructions of the authorities."
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the suspect cannot hope for leniency and must leave the country.
He told reporters: "This perpetrator cannot hope for any leniency. He must be punished and he must leave the country. If it was an attack, we must take consistent action against possible perpetrators with all means of justice."
