At least two people have died after a car travelling at high speed on Monday ran into a crowd in the city of Mannheim, in western Germany. Several people were also injured in the incident, police said, adding that the suspected driver, a 40-year-old German, has been arrested.
Germanpolice said two people were killed and several others were injured when a driver drove a black SUV into a group of people in Paradeplatz, a pedestrianised street in downtownMannheim.
The driver, identified as a 40-year-old German from the nearby state of Rhineland-Palatinate, was arrested shortly afterward.
Police would not immediately characterise the incident as an attack, and later issued a statement on X, saying it is believed the driver had acted alone.
Indications of a second perpetrator cannot be confirmed at this stage of the investigation. They said there was no more danger to the public.
Paradeplatz, a major square in the downtown area, lies at the end of a pedestrianised street in Mannheim, which has a population of 326,000 and lies 85 kilometres south of Frankfurt.
Police are appealing to the public to avoid the area.
The incident occurred as crowds gathered in cities across western Germanys Rhineland for parades to mark the carnival season.
Security has been a key concern in Germany following a string of violent attacks in recent weeks, includingdeadly car rammings in Magdeburg in Decemberand in Munich last month, as well as a stabbing in Mannheim in May 2024.
Police are on high alert for this years carnival parades after social media accounts connected to theIslamic State (IS) groupcalled for attacks on the events in Cologne and Nuremberg.
(FRANCE 24 with AP and Reuters)
Originally published on France24
