Police arrested an Afghan asylum seeker after plowing his car into a crowd of people in Munich Thursday morning, injuring at least 28 people, including children. A 24-year-old man, who recently had his asylum application rejected, drove a white Mini Cooper into a demonstration of roughly 1,000 city trade union workers who were on strike at around 10:30 am, according to police.
Among those injured was a 2-year-old child who was hospitalized in critical condition.
“Doctors are currently fighting for the toddler’s life,” a spokesperson for the Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital said.
Authorities said that the suspect had initially approached police vehicles before accelerating his vehicle into the crowd of demonstrators. Police arrested the man after firing a shot at the car, New York Post reports.
“He approached the gathering from behind and then drove into the crowd. The police then shot at the vehicle,” deputy police chief Christian Huber said.
“It is suspected that this was an attack – a lot points to that,” Bavarian governor Markus Söder said at the scene.
He added, “The attack shows that I have to change something in Germany – and quickly.”
According to Bavaria’s state interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, local cops knew of the suspect in light of past theft and drug offenses.
Herrman noted that the alleged perp had his asylum application but that it hadn’t been possible for him to be deported.
According to German news outlet, Exxpress, the driver was identified as Farhad N., born in Kabul in 2001 and came to Germany via Italy as a minor at the end of 2016. He is also suspected of having an extremist background, including posting Islamic content before Thursday’s incident, police said.
Despite rejected asylum applications, Farhad was given a tolerance, meaning that he could not be deported.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who described the ordeal as a “terrorist attack,” stated, “Anyone who commits crimes in Germany will not just be punished severely and have to go to prison, but must expect that he cannot continue his stay in Germany — and that also goes for countries that it is very difficult to send people back to.”
The incident comes a day before the 61st Munich Security Conference, a gathering of world leaders to discuss the world’s security policy challenges between Feb. 14 and Feb. 16. Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
“We were deeply saddened to learn that a tragic incident occurred this morning in downtown Munich, in which a vehicle drove into a crowd of people. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families,” the conference wrote on X in response to the incident.
We were deeply saddened to learn that a tragic incident occurred this morning in the #Munich city center 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…
— Munich Security Conference (@MunSecConf) February 13, 2025
According to Hermann, it is not initially believed that the attack was tied to the conference.
The incident also comes before Germany’s federal election on Feb. 23, which has raised Immigration and security issues due to other violent incidents in recent weeks, with polls showing the centre-right conservatives leading followed by the far right.
As reported by Reuters, immigrants have been arrested for killing six people last December at a Christmas market in Magdeburg and a toddler and adult last month in a knife attack in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg.
Photo Credit: ©YouTube/DNA India News
Originally published February 13, 2025.
