Breitscheidplatz
Update: it’s now 12 people killed.
An articulated lorry has ploughed into a busy Christmas market in the heart of Berlin, killing nine people and injuring many more, police say.
Police say they suspect it was deliberate. Video shows stalls knocked over and people lying injured.
A suspicious person was arrested nearby, while what police describe as a passenger was found dead, police say.
The market is at Breitscheidplatz, close to the Kurfuerstendamm, the main shopping street in the city’s west.
It’s also right near the Berlin zoo. I once knew some elephant keepers at the Berlin Zoo.
Here’s the Facebook safety check page, in case you have friends there. I’ve heard from a couple of friends.
According to the DPA news agency, police believe the lorry drove 50-80 metres (54-87 yards) through the market area during the incident, which occurred at 20:14 local time (19:14 GMT).
“We are investigating whether it was a terror attack but do not yet know what was behind it,” a police spokesman told AFP news agency.
“One person was detained. The cab of the truck was found empty.”
That’s a hell of a distance to drive by accident, plus there’s the fact that it happened in Nice as well as other places in France, plus there have been news reports that this is a recommended method for freelance mass murderers. No need to mess with explosives or guns, just get a truck and drive it into a crowded open air spot.
Images of the lorry show it was registered in neighbouring Poland and Polish media are suggesting it may have been stolen earlier on Monday.
The Polish haulage company which uses the vehicle has reportedly been unable to get in touch with the original driver, a Polish national, since 16:00 (15:00 GMT).
So the driver is probably dead.
A British eyewitness, Mike Fox, told The Associated Press at the scene that the large lorry had missed him by only about 3m as it drove into the market, tearing through tables and wooden stands.
“It was definitely deliberate,” said the tourist, visiting from Birmingham.
He said he had helped people who appeared to have broken limbs, and that others were trapped under Christmas stands.
Allahu akbar.
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 5m
Better get “Mad Dog” right onto it! Git em boy!
I see a bad moon a-rising
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightnin’
I see bad times today
Argh. I’ve been meaning to look up what he had to say about it, and delaying the pain.
Note that this tactic is common in Europe—and yet to be effected in North America—because of the effectiveness of gun control there. If only they could go to a few gun shows, these innocent people wouldn’t have been run over by that enormous truck.
@ ^
That’s sarcasm right?!
(You can’t always tell.)
It could be sarcasm, but it feels more like really dark gallows humour with just a touch of bitter despair. Seth – enlighten us.
(Yes, that was ham-fisted sarcasm, coloured into incoherence by despair, both at the tragedy itself and the memory of Orlando.)
Expect people have read the updates, but sounds like, yeah, the driver was killed by whoever hijacked the thing, and it probably _wasn’t_ the guy they first grabbed. Glaring unknowns in this still about.
And on delaying the Trump pain, I think there’s a perfectly legitimate case for ignoring him entirely, and regularly. Yes, given the bizarre fact that he’s shortly to be in office, I guess there’s probably some civic duty dimension now to tracking what the illiterate twitter troll in chief is on about of late, keeping up with which combination of dishonest/wrong/idiotic he’s chosen on a given event, but I figure it’s also a bit like dealing with creationists/conspiracy cranks of various flavours… Spend too much time on noise, you have no time for signal. And that guy is close to 100% the former.
The last I say yesterday, a dead man was found in the truck cab. Presumed to be the Polish driver, killed by whoever hijacked the truck.
Actually, I agree with Trump, ‘the civilized world must change thinking!’.
No more multi-culti pixie dust, it doesn’t seem to be working. The Right has some rather drastic solutions and the Left desperately tries to find the sources of radicalisation, ie ‘it’s all our fault’.
Any suggestions? Apart from assuming the attitude of a sheep and hoping that the next victims of an instant jihadist aren’t us or our loved ones. The Trojans didn’t know what was in the horse, we should have known better.