- A 29-year-old man was arrested after driving his vehicle into a crowded carnival parade in the small German town of Volkmarsen.
- Among the 30 people who were injured in the incident, a third of them are children, according to local reports.
- Police said the incident, which occurred on the final day of Carnival season, was intentional.
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About 30 people, including children, were injured after a man driving a Mercedes Benz intentionally drove his vehicle into a crowded parade in Germany, according to local news reports Monday.
According to German news outlet Hessenschau, the incident occurred in a crowded parade in the town of Volkmarsen, located in the Waldeck-Frankenberg district in northern Hesse, Germany. A crowd had gathered for a parade as Monday marked Rosenmontagszug, the last day of Carnival season in Germany, which is typically celebrated with live music, costumes, and parades, according to Collins Dictionary.
Images of the area were the incident happen. The prepartor is arrested. No info is given if he was drunk or he did this as a attack ! 15 Injured most were childrens pic.twitter.com/68OHYvKGWs
— Xy5Z89🇩🇪🇪🇺 (@Xy5Z89) February 24, 2020
The vehicle, registered to a person in Waldeck-Frankenberg district, plowed into the crowd at high speed injuring 30, some seriously. A third of the injured were children, Hessenschau reported.
Emergency services, including several ambulances, were on the scene attending to those who were injured.
Eyewitnesses said a silver Mercedes station wagon drove into the crowd at around 2:30 p.m. local time on Monday, according to the German news outlet. They also told the outlet that the man behind the wheel drove the vehicle some 30 meters (just under 100 feet) into the crowd before coming to a stop. Witnesses have said alcohol was involved in the incident, though police have not yet confirmed such reports.
The man, a 29-year-old from the region, intentionally drove his vehicle into the crowd, according to police, Hessenschau reported. Police did not believe the incident was politically-motivated, according to the report, though they are investigating an attempted homicide, according to the German news outlet.
https://twitter.com/tprincedelamour/status/1231953138028097536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
All Rosenmontagszug celebrations in Hesse had been canceled following the incident. Around 1,500 people were believed to be attending the carnival parade, the outlet reported.
The Waldeck-Frankenberg police department did not return an Insider request for more information.