Volkswacht Bodensee - Two dead as car ploughs into crowd in Germany's Leipzig

Germany has been shaken by a series of car-ramming attacks in recent years, including one targeting a Christmas market in 2024 in Magdeburg, and also in Berlin and Munich.

In the latest incident in Leipzig, the driver was arrested after his vehicle careered from a main square down a major city centre street, close to historic sites.

Leipzig mayor Burkhard Jung gave a death toll of two, adding: "We still don't really know the motivation. We don't know anything about the perpetrator."

Police and the fire service also said two people were killed.

At least two people were seriously injured while 20 others were more lightly hurt, according to local fire chief Axel Schuh.

Police said that the car ploughed into people on Grimmaische street, a major pedestrian zone in the city's old town lined with shops and historic buildings.

"The driver has been arrested; there is currently no further danger from him," they said.

The driver stopped of his own accord, they added.

TV pictures showed a white vehicle with a badly damaged windshield and hood, and the street cordoned off and surrounded by emergency vehicles.

Police deployed in large numbers along with firefighters, emergency medical personnel and two helicopters.

- Series of rammings -

Since the Berlin attack in December 2016, carried out by a Tunisian with jihadist motives who drove a truck into the crowd, killing 13 people, Germany has faced repeated ramming attacks.

In 2024, a Christmas market in Magdeburg was targeted by a Saudi man with Islamophobic views, who drove a car into the crowd, killing six people and injuring more than 300.

In February 2025, a mother and her daughter were killed and around 30 people injured by the Afghan driver of a vehicle that rammed into a march in Munich.

The attacks came as sensitivities have grown in parts of German society over immigrants, following a large migrant influx in 2015.

Immigration and security have risen up the political agenda in German political debate, helping fuel the rise of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD).

A.Kunz--VB