the suspect in a deadly attack on a christmas market in the east german city of magdeburg has been named as taleb al abdulmohsen. he's a 50—year—old doctor who migrated to germany from saudi arabia 18 years ago. prosecutors believe the suspect was acting alone but they didn't have him in their sights. the german chancellor, olaf scholz, earlier asked his country to stay united after the attack which killed five people, including a nine—year—old child, and injured 200, 41 of them seriously. a car got through a gap in the security barriers and rammed into crowds at high speed. a city council official in magdeburg spoke at the police news conference earlier calling yesterday's events a �*dark day.�* i thought long and hard about how to start this opening statement and, as you can see,

i am visibly distressed. yesterday was a dark day for the regional capital and will remain as that in the history books. i know it is an overused phrase but our thoughts are with the victims and with the injured. we can certainly say that no one in the city council slept well, given what happened last night and no doubt, their thoughts were with the events of yesterday. the german chancellor and other politicians were booed when they visited magdeberg. olaf scholz pledged that germany would respond "with the full force of the law". have a listen. it is almost to the day, the anniversary of the attack in berlin and it is important to me that we stand united. but we talk to each other, we enter into dialogue. we should not disseminate hatred. we remain a community that has a shared future. we should not allow those who wish to sow hate to

do so. but, of course, the perpetrators cannot get off scot free. they must be punished for what has happened. that is also part and parcel of our shared future. i have heard and experienced a great deal of solidarity from all over the world. many people have sent personal messages and written personal messages and written personal messages. it is very positive to hear that. to hear that we in germany are not alone, with these challenges, and dealing with this catastrophe. so thank you to all of you, once again, thank you to everybody who has helped. thank you to the first responders, the emergency services and, of course, we would like to express our solidarity to all of those who have been injured. the citizens of magdeburg, those who have been killed, theirfamilies, been killed, their families, everybody, been killed, theirfamilies, everybody, of course, will be dealing with this profound grief over the days to come.

that was olaf scholz speaking a little earlier. let's speak to batoul nayouf, a resident of magdeburg and member of the city's syrian—german cultural association. thank you for coming on the programme. thank you for coming on the programme-— thank you for coming on the rouramme. ., ~ i. . programme. thank you so much for having _ programme. thank you so much for having me. _ programme. thank you so much for having me. just _ programme. thank you so much for having me. just your - for having me. just your reaction _ for having me. just your reaction when _ for having me. just your reaction when you - for having me. just your| reaction when you heard for having me. just your - reaction when you heard what was unfolding last night. well, first reaction _ was unfolding last night. well, first reaction was _ was unfolding last night. well, first reaction was actually - first reaction was actually deep shock. four seconds, first reaction was actually deep shock. fourseconds, i just could not believe what i was hearing. shock, sadness, and fear. yes.— was hearing. shock, sadness, and fear. yes. and now, we are caettin and fear. yes. and now, we are getting towards _ and fear. yes. and now, we are getting towards 24 _ and fear. yes. and now, we are getting towards 24 hours - and fear. yes. and now, we are getting towards 24 hours on - and fear. yes. and now, we are| getting towards 24 hours on and the details are coming about, well, what unfolded, about the suspect. what you make of that? what are you processing? it is actuall , what are you processing? it is actually. still _ what are you processing? it is actually, still to _ what are you processing? it is actually, still to this _ what are you processing? it 3 actually, still to this moment, it is hard to process what happened yesterday. emotionally

and rationally, it is really so difficult for all of us. in regard to the... till this point, we have no idea about the motive and that itself actually makes the processing much more harder but no matter what the motive is, to be honest with you, there is no place for violence between us in this community and there is also, as much as i hope there is no place for radicalisation against specifically against immigrants, in this community, so, yeah. immigrants, in this community, so, eah. �* immigrants, in this community, so. yeah-— so, yeah. and the politics in germany — so, yeah. and the politics in germany right _ so, yeah. and the politics in germany right now - so, yeah. and the politics in germany right now is - so, yeah. and the politics in - germany right now is fractured, divided, germany, of course, not alone. plenty of countries are experiencing this right now. and deeply traumatic events like this, in the middle

of that context, seem a difficult situation and one that the chancellor underlined that the chancellor underlined that call for unity. to think that call for unity. to think that call for unity. to think that call will be listened to? lets put this clear. of course, with everything that is going on right now, politically, not just in germany but specifically in germany with the early election next year and with the rise of popularity that we are witnessing now to the far right wing here in germany, such event, of course, i'm going to be used to create more and bigger gaps inside the german communities but we hope and we have faith in the german community that we are part of it. that people are aware of

such political games. people are aware that our fears are mutual and our future is are aware that our fears are mutual and ourfuture is only guaranteed in solidarity with each other. so we hope, actually, that such incidents will not be used to cause more harm and more damage to the local community and immigrant communities but, this, only time will tell this. but we can see it from now that a lot of political speeches may be, let's say, like, some people are already starting to polarise against immigrants, which is deeply concerning, to be honest with you. but we still have faith that with, like, the legaljustice system in germany, that what happened

yesterday were not hopefully happen again and the person responsible for that will eventually take what they deserve. ., ., eventually take what they deserve-— eventually take what they deserve. ., ,, , . deserve. thank you very much for coming _ deserve. thank you very much for coming on _ deserve. thank you very much for coming on the _ deserve. thank you very much | for coming on the programme. thank you. for coming on the programme. thank yon-— for coming on the programme. thank you. thank you so much. we will take — thank you. thank you so much. we will take a _ thank you. thank you so much. we will take a quick _ thank you. thank you so much. we will take a quick look - thank you. thank you so much. we will take a quick look now. we will take a quick look now at the security operation about the christmas market in the events last night. phil carr is the director of forseti training, which trains security officers on how to respond to incidents like this, he explains the type of training needed to manage these types of events. there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that people don't realise. with risk assessments and planning and everything else. and we look at the security on this. we are already talking about security failings. there are security failings. there are security failings at manchester arena which took years to create. security can make a huge improvement but we do have to be fluid and our approach because things change very

quickly leading up to the situation so we need to be prepared for that.- situation so we need to be prepared for that. what kind of security changes _ prepared for that. what kind of security changes can _ prepared for that. what kind of security changes can happen i security changes can happen when things happen so fast? if we have got something like a speeding vehicle, it feels like there is very little that can be done in the moment. the only thing that could have been done is try to secure the area beforehand.— is try to secure the area beforehand. , ., ., beforehand. so, beforehand, we do look at _ beforehand. so, beforehand, we do look at viscous _ beforehand. so, beforehand, we do look at viscous settlements l do look at viscous settlements and plays a huge role in that. it is vehicle mitigation. several systems out there, . .. we just pictures of the huge concrete blocks that were used to seeing. what else is there? there are any fixed position we have a group who worked with one of the members they are and they have equipment which means that, if necessary, can be rolled into place which means that they could actually measure the distances there and then so if they do spot an

incident, they can actually adjust it quite quickly. and it is effective equipment. in the uk we do have these things and our security operatives go through training which teaches them how to look for hostile behaviour before events happen so they can raise the alarm and the lessons learned from the manchester arena are filtering through. let's speak to freelance journalist james jackson in berlin. he's been reporting on germany affairs for many years and has been following the latest in magdeburg. thank you for coming on the programme. we had the naming of the suspect at the moment. still a suspect. your thoughts. i think, actually, just picking up i think, actually, just picking up on what your previous guest just said, in terms of checking for hostilities before, i've just seen, coming through a local media, that is, actually, the criminal affairs office at

the criminal affairs office at the national criminal affairs office of germany both looked at the suspect in 2023 and decided that he was not a danger. there are some news breaking that he was due to appear in court last thursday for misuse of police time. he appears to have been someone who serially called the police and in this particular occasion, back on the 23rd of february, he went in, it seems like, he went into a police building and then pulled the fire alarm when it was not necessary. some very erratic behaviour and i would say that actually, that is the picture that seems to be forming of the suspect as someone who is very erratic, who was from saudi arabia and an ex muslim and who seems like his motivations were that the idea that germany was its demise in europe, his exact words by letting in syrians but not enough saudi arabians. but

here comes this erratic behaviour that i mentioned. he spent a lot of his time actually campaigning against another ex muslim organisation and even in the summer sent me and even in the summer sent me a video into my personal twitter saying, which was an ai video of elon musk are talking about the suspect�*s particular grievances. so the interior minister has said that he was motivated, we don't know much about it, we know he was motivated by is lamb a phobia. this is the opposite image from what many people assume —— is bmb what many people assume —— is lamb a lamba receieved messages from the now named suspecthe discovered many people assume it was an islamist attack because it is on the status of the day after another attack.—

on the status of the day after another attack. just to pick up on several _ another attack. just to pick up on several points _ another attack. just to pick up on several points that - another attack. just to pick up on several points that you - another attack. just to pick up l on several points that you made there. on this message that you received can you talk us through that again? it was uuite a through that again? it was quite a shock— through that again? it was quite a shock to _ through that again? it was quite a shock to me, - through that again? it was quite a shock to me, to i through that again? it was - quite a shock to me, to honest because as first reports were coming out i went to look and i saw that he followed me and i saw that he followed me and i saw that he had also message me and all survivor reported on a story about police misbehaviour in berlin and then he sent me his message, this video made to look as if it is elon musk talking about the case of the suspect. and he even talked about some politicians i am in contact with. politicians in 1529