The car crashed into the back of a demonstration by a service workers’ union.
At least 28 people were injured after a car was driven into a crowd in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 13 in what authorities suspect was an attack.
The car was driven by a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, who was arrested at the scene, police said.
Bavarian police said the vehicle crashed into a demonstration by a service workers’ union in a square near downtown Munich around 10:30 a.m. local time.
Police said that they fired a shot at the car before arresting the suspect.
Among the 28 injured, two are seriously hurt, police said in a statement posted on social media platform X.
“Numerous emergency personnel are still on-site around the scene of the incident,” police said in the statement. “Providing care for the injured is currently the top priority. Please support the rescue workers by keeping emergency routes clear.”
Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter said that children were among those injured.
Bavarian State Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the suspect was already known to authorities and that his asylum application had been rejected, but deportation had not been possible.
Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder said the incident was “probably an attack.”
“One thing is clear: we always react prudently—but we are also determined,” he said in a statement posted to X. “This is not the first attack of this kind. Sympathy and coming to terms with the past are important. But something fundamental has to change in Germany.”
Bavarian justice minister, Georg Eisenreich, said a prosecutors’ department that specializes in investigating extremism and terror was looking into the case.
Attacks by immigrants and asylum seekers have made immigration one of the key issues in the German election set to be held on Feb. 23.
Center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the attack “really terrible.”
“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.”
By Guy Birchall
