FROM AFP NEWS
German Far-right AfD To March In City Hit By Christmas Market Attack

By Frank ZELLER
December 23, 2024

ADDS Saudi statement, German police association, report by newspaper on past mental health issues

Germany's far-right AfD was to march Monday in the eastern city mourning the victims of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market that has newly inflamed a heated debate on migrant and security policy.

The government has faced angry questions on possible errors and missed warnings about the Saudi suspect arrested at the scene of Friday's attack in Magdeburg that killed five people and left over 200 wounded.

Those concerns were fuelled by news that Saudi Arabia had warned Germany about its citizen Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, who came to Germany in 2006 and was granted refugee status 10 years later.

Riyadh had warned Berlin "many times" that the psychiatrist and activist "could be dangerous", a source close to the Saudi government told AFP, adding that "there was (an extradition) request".

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