At least 28 injured after car hits union rally in ‘suspected attack’ in Munich

A 24-year-old Afghan man has driven a car into a trade union demonstration in Munich, injuring at least 28 people including children, some of them critically, German police said.

The Bavarian state premier, Markus Söder, told reporters the incident was “suspected to be an attack”, 10 days before the German general elections in which the campaign has been dominated by heated debate about public security and immigration.

“This shows something’s got to change in Germany,” Söder said.

The regional capital had already begun implementing tighter security measures before the Munich Security Conference starting on Friday, which draws top foreign and security policy officials from around the world. Authorities said they did not believe the car ramming was connected to the conference.

The news website Spiegel said the suspect, identified only as Farhad N, had arrived in Germany as an asylum seeker in December 2016 and cited sources saying he had posted Islamist content on social media before the incident.

The car, a Mini Cooper, accelerated and ploughed into the back of a rally by the Verdi trade union at about 10.30am during a strike by public sector workers. Employees of daycare centres, hospitals, sanitation facilities and public swimming pools had joined the work stoppage calling for higher pay and longer holidays. More than 1,000 people were reportedly at the scene.

Media images showed the damaged Mini Cooper, and several bodies lying on the ground, which was strewn with shoes and stained with blood.

“As reported, the secured person is the driver of the car,” police said on X. “Speculation is swirling about further people being involved. We cannot confirm that at this time.”

The Munich-based Süddeutsche reported that one woman had died but authorities did not immediately comment.

The mayor, Dieter Reiter, told Bild: “The police chief just informed me that a vehicle drove into a group of people and unfortunately many were injured, including children. I am deeply shocked. My thoughts are with those hurt.”

Two months ago a car ramming at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg killed six people. Police arrested a Saudi man who had frequently expressed far-right sympathies on social media.

The Munich incident came as an Afghan man with suspected Islamist sympathies went on trial on charges of murder and attempted murder after a stabbing attack targeting a political rally last May in the western city of Mannheim.

The defendant, identified by prosecutors as Sulaiman A, is accused of stabbing and seriously injuring six people, including a 29-year-old police officer who died of his injuries, during the attack on an anti-Islam demonstration.

During the election campaign, the centre-right and far right in particular have vowed a tougher crackdown on immigrant crime, after a string of violent attacks in recent months.

Sandra Demmelhuber, a journalist who was covering the strike in Munich, described shocked witnesses.

“There is a person lying in the street and a young man was taken away by police,” she posted on X. “People are sitting crying and shaking on the ground. Details are still unclear.”

An unnamed demonstrator told the local public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk: “I joined the protest march and saw a man lying under the car. I tried to open the door but it was locked.” He said police then arrived at the scene and shot at the car window. Police later confirmed they had fired one shot while making the arrest but it was unclear whether the suspect was injured.

Another witness told media that the Mini struck a woman with a child. “The mother and child were lying under the car.”

Claudia Weber, of Verdi, described the scene as “incomprehensible”.

“We are completely shocked and are afraid for our colleagues who were at the march,” she said. “We heard that the car intentionally crashed into the demonstration. We hope no one will die.”