Mourners laid flowers close to the scene of the lethal Christmas market assault on Monday as investigators puzzled over the motive of the suspect and his earlier encounters with authorities have been scrutinized.

The Johanniskirche, a church a brief stroll from the scene of the assault, has develop into a central place of mourning because the suspect drove a automotive into the busy market on Friday night, killing 5 folks. A carpet of flowers now covers the broad sidewalk in entrance of the church.

The variety of injured has risen to as many as 235.

The suspect, recognized solely as Taleb A., is a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia with a historical past of anti-Islamic rhetoric and a sympathy for the far-right Various for Germany (AfD) celebration.

He left video messages on his X account on the day of the assault.

In rambling commentary, he variously blamed Germany’s supposed liberalism for the loss of life of Socrates, an historic Greek thinker, and accused police of stealing a USB stick from him and destroying a prison grievance he had filed.

The Welt newspaper stated he had undergone psychological remedy.

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At a gathering organized by AfD exterior Magdeburg’s cathedral on Monday, co-leader Alice Weidel described the assault as “an act of an Islamist filled with hatred for what constitutes human cohesion … for us Germans, for us Christians.”

AfD is polling in second place nationwide and is especially robust in jap Germany, the place Magdeburg is situated.

Holger Muench, president of the federal prison police workplace (BKA), instructed ZDF that Germany had acquired a warning from Saudi Arabia way back to 2023 concerning the suspect, which German authorities investigated however discovered obscure.

“The person additionally printed an enormous variety of posts on the Web. He additionally had varied contacts with the authorities, made insults and even threats. However he was not recognized for acts of violence,” Muench stated.

Federal Inside Minister Nancy Faeser known as for more durable inside safety legal guidelines to be adopted, together with a brand new act to strengthen police forces in addition to the introduction of biometric surveillance.

“It’s clear that we should do all the things to guard the folks of Germany from such horrific acts of violence. To do that, our safety authorities want all the required powers and extra personnel,” she instructed Spiegel information journal.

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Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck voiced fears that the assault will gas on-line misinformation earlier than a snap nationwide election anticipated in late February. He urged folks to not “be contaminated by hatred.”

“There’s nonetheless loads we do not know and loads is unexplained, together with the precise motive,” Mr Habeck stated. “All the identical, I worry that the mistrust that was instantly propagated on the web in opposition to Muslims, foreigners and folks with a historical past of immigration will entrench itself deeper in society.”

Taha al-Hajji, a Saudi lawyer in exile and the authorized director for the Berlin-based European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR), stated most Saudi opposition activists in Germany didn’t have a superb relationship with the suspect.

“He made issues with everybody at all times … He was actually remoted,” stated al-Hajji.

“He felt that he was the one one proper and folks have been mistaken, he felt he was the centre of all the things, he was necessary. He at all times had issues with everybody.”

The native prosecutor in Magdeburg, Horst Nopens, stated on Sunday {that a} potential issue within the assault could have been the suspect’s “dissatisfaction with the remedy of Saudi refugees in Germany” however added that the motive remained unclear.

Reuters and Related Press contributed to this report.