Berlin: A car driven to a crowd in the German city of Mannheim killed at least one person on Monday and wounded several more, police said, added that a person had been arrested.
The armed police closed the city center, where you could see a damaged car with the front window shattered. Two car attack attacks in other cities since December have left eight dead. Mannheim was the scene of a sharp attack in an anti -islam demonstration last May in which a policeman was killed and another five injured.
The police did not call the last incident an attack, but said that an alleged “perpetrator” had been arrested after the car was driven through a commercial area around 12:15 pm (1115 GMT).
“Now we can confirm that a car was taken to a pedestrian zone and that a person was killed,” said police spokesman Stefan Wilhelm, added that several people were injured.
“We can confirm that a suspect was arrested,” he said, adding that “the investigation continues.”
Wilhelm said residents had been urged to “avoid the city center area” in the middle of the main police operation. Heavy weapons officers cordoned off the area and police helicopters were seen in the air.
He Bild Daily said that two people died and 25 were injured in the incident, with images that show ambulances near the historic water tower of the city.
A reporter in the News Channel scene NTV He said that “at least one person is covered with canvas” and that children's shoes were scattered in the debris scattered on the ground.
The police asked residents to avoid the city center and remain inside, since the area was greatly evacuated.
The Interior Ministry of the State of Baden-WuerTemberg had warned the population of a “potentially deadly situation” through its disaster warning application.
The Intensive Care Unit of the Mannheim University Hospital declared a disaster alert.
The German cities have seen several violent attacks, including stabbed spree and car sewer attacks attributed to asylum applicants.
Last month, a man led a car to a trade union demonstration in the southern city of Munich, killing a two -year -old girl and her mother.
In December, an attack of the car rise attacked a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, killing six people and hurting hundreds.
Mannheim was the scene of a sharp attack in an anti -islam rally in the past in which a policeman was killed and another five injured.
The authorities were on a maximum alert since Monday is the culminating point of traditional German carnival celebrations before the beginning of Lent.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Monday before the incident in Mannheim that the festivities were held “with high security precautions.”
Mannheim had seen Miles get to the streets on Sunday for his own carnival parade.
Faeser canceled his visit to Rose Monday Parade in Colonia to travel to Mannheim.
Security was a main theme in the general elections of last month, which won the center-right
