Mother and two-year-old daughter die after car ramming attack in Germany
A two-year-old girl and her mother have died after a car was rammed into a group of people in Munich on Thursday.
The 37-year-old mother from the city and her daughter are the first deaths from the incident, German police said on Saturday.
Police said at least 36 people were injured on Thursday morning when a car ploughed into a crowd taking part in a trade union demonstration.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germans to “stand together” as he laid flowers at the scene on Saturday.
He said: “We all have to stand together now, make sure that our country sticks together and that the very values that united those who peacefully organised a rally here and held a march are united with those who helped here, namely that we are together as human beings.”
A 24-year-old Afghan national known as Farhad N was detained at the scene.
The suspect has lived in Munich since he arrived as an unaccompanied minor in 2016. Although his asylum application had been rejected, he lived in Germany legally with a residence permit and had no previous convictions.
He is being investigated for 36 counts of attempted murder, as well as bodily harm and dangerous interference with road traffic.
Prosecutors said he appeared to have had an Islamic extremist motive, though there was no evidence he was connected to any radical network.
The attack fuelled yet more debate in Germany about migration, a top concern among voters as they head to the polls next week to elect a new government.
It sent shockwaves through the southern German city just hours before international leaders touched down for the annual Munich Security Conference.
A judge on Friday ordered that the suspect remain in custody pending a possible charge.
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Chancellor Scholz said: “It must always be very clear – anyone who does something like that must expect the harshest penalties.”
He added: “And of course, if he has no right of stay, he will also have to leave the country at the end of his sentence.”