but democracies also value freedom of speech, the right to say things others find offensive. who in the new media landscape is to police what's valid and what's fake, what's true and what's post—truth? 2016 has given the question new urgency. alan little, bbc news. alan will be back tomorrow night with the second of those special reports on the momentous changes in 2016. more on the main story, the attack on the busy christmas market in berlin. according to sources, at least nine people have died. dozens we re least nine people have died. dozens were injured. jenny hill is at the scene. it is near the kaiser wilhelm memorial church. bring us up—to—date on any further information you have had in the last half an hour? yeah, the police are very much keeping an

open mind on this one. they say it is possible this was a deliberately planned attack. they can't rule out macro terror motivation. equally, they say, it mayjust have been a traffic accident. very early stages in their investigation. very few details to be gleaned at this stage. many questions. what we do know is that earlier this evening thousands of people came to berlin's biggest christmas market to enjoy the festivities. instead they witnessed scenes of horror. nine people lost their lives. more than 50 people we re their lives. more than 50 people were injured. some of them are fighting for their lives. it's feared the death toll may rise. thank you very much, jenny. jenny hill in berlin. after that incident earlier this evening. there will be more on that and any development on the bbc news channel. now it you watching bbc news, it is just

after 10:30. let's get more on events in where a truck has ploughed into a busy christmas market in the centre of the city. mike fox, a british tourist, who was at the market at the time, described what he saw. we win the market outside the cathedral, and we had just decided to leave, as the truck went past, it went past me and my girlfriend, it missed me by three metres. it missed her by five. it hit the sides, the barriers, and carried on past us. idid barriers, and carried on past us. i did not see any concrete bars to stop things that this driving in. we note we had them in birmingham to stop that. definitely people got injured, yes. i spoke to two people lying on the floor with broken limbs, and they

we re floor with broken limbs, and they were going to be ok. 0ne floor with broken limbs, and they were going to be ok. one guy was being dragged away with blood on his face. several other people lifted the side of one of the stalls up. 0ne the side of one of the stalls up. one british eyewitness, mike fox, describing what he saw. another eyewitness on the line, emma rushton in berlin. thanks for being with us. take us through the evening. tell us what happened from the very beginning. it's our first day in berlin. we arrived at lunchtime and went off to the christmas market earlier today. we came back to the hotel to check into our brains, and decided to head back because we had a lovely time this afternoon. —— into our rooms. we were sat in one of the proofs behind one of the hearts that were serving drinks. we heard an almighty bang to the left of us. lights overhanging the

market came down, and we saw the truck going from our left—hand side right across us may be 8—10 feet in front of us, ploughing into the store that we had just bought wine from, ploughing into people. it was relentless, it didn't seem to stop. and this happened 8—10 feet from you? yes, it was so close. only two minutes before, we said that we would go in a minute because it was so would go in a minute because it was so pretty with the lights and christmas music, we gave it another minute. and i am so glad we did. just two minutes before, you were at the very stall where this vehicle ended up going through. we bought the wine and sat down in the booth behind it. it was too close for comfort. ican imagine. close for comfort. i can imagine. at that stage, did you have any inkling as to exactly

what was going on? how this could have happened ? know, in the moment, you are shocked and full of adrenaline. you have no idea what is going on. with the lights gone, the place had gone dark. we had no idea. the people around us had no idea. 0nly dark. we had no idea. the people around us had no idea. only after it had passed us and carried on going past us, i saw that it was too reminiscent of what happened in nice. as the vehicle ploughed into the area, just describe what was going on around you. we were drinking. everyone looked over because we thought maybe fireworks were going off or something. then you heard people who we re something. then you heard people who were obviously in the part of its screaming that it was going so fast, it must have been going a0 mph, it

made no attempt to stop whatsoever. it is terrifying. everyone around us was in shock. my first phone call was in shock. my first phone call was to my mother to let her know that i was safe, people calling emergency services, it was chaotic. how quickly were the emergency services on the scene? police were there very, very quickly, within five minutes. 0ur hotel is on the same street as the market, and we have had emergency services up and down the street as soon services up and down the street as soon as we services up and down the street as soon as we left, until 30 minutes to one hour ago. your thoughts now that it seems as if the police are treating this as a possible terror attack, that this was deliberate, this vehicle coming off the road and getting into the market area? because of the speed it was going, it isa because of the speed it was going, it is a square, and yes, there are

two main roads either side of the square, but the path that it was going, it wasn't as if it had just veered off the road. it wasn't, if you are veering off and going into the pavement, it wasn't that kind of accident. it was through the centre of the market. i am unsurprised at that. thoughts and players are with family, and with the people that have been injured, because we were very, very lucky, but there were lots of people tonight that word. indeed. you are clear in your mind that this vehicle was aiming to hit as many people as possible, there is absolutely no way that this could have been accidental in any way? i'm notan have been accidental in any way? i'm not an expert. i don't deal with traffic collisions every day, but in my mind, it didn't look like an accident. you at least make an attempt to stop, and there was no attempt to stop, and there was no attempt to stop in that vehicle. given that germany has sadly been

the scene of several terror incidents in the last few months, and that this was a busy christmas market, and obviously a busy time of year, did you see any kind of security? any barriers? anything around that area ? security? any barriers? anything around that area? were you allowed to have your bag search before you went into the market? no, this is a typical german christmas market. they happen all the time, they run of the. they happen in london, they happen in birmingham. idon't happen in london, they happen in birmingham. i don't think you can predict the unpredictable. hugh knew that this was going to happen? this was not predictable. ido was not predictable. i do think a presence there, and actually if there were police there, how on earth would they have stopped something like that? it wouldn't have been feasible. i don't think any blame can be placed on emergency

services and on people here. there are suggestions that there are barriers around the christmas markets in belgium and even birmingham. well, i haven't been to the birmingham christmas market in many yea rs. birmingham christmas market in many years. i'm not sure that that is necessarily a security measure, barriers tend to go up around any major event. it is very difficult to predict this, and i don't think that you can prepare for something like this. that's the way it works, it's unpredictable. people that do things like this deliberately aimed for it.