Rose Monday is traditionally the highlight of Carnival in the Rhineland and Hesse. Usually the day brings a lot of joy, especially for children. In Volkmarsen, a small town 30 kilometers from Kassel, this year’s Rose Monday turned out to be a nightmare.
A man drove his silver Mercedes station wagon into the crowd at high speed in the afternoon, when the carnival parade was about to end with around 700 people celebrating. According to media reports, witnesses wanted to have seen how the driver first circumvented a barrier, then accelerated and headed straight for people. Individual observers had the impression that he was targeting children.
After about 30 meters the car stopped and the driver was arrested by the police. The security forces apparently had to protect him from angry carnival participants who attacked him with their fists raised. There were injuries everywhere, including many children. Many parents cried. Towards evening, the police reported that the number of injured was 30, including seven seriously injured. Some of them were apparently in mortal danger.
According to investigators, the driver was a 29-year-old German from Volkmarsen. Nothing was known about his motive for the time being. Local police spokesmen said they thought the act was deliberate. So far, there were no indications of an attack or a political motive. The Hessian Ministry of the Interior said that an attack could not be ruled out due to the local situation. The driver had injured himself while driving and was initially unable to be heard. According to the Frankfurt Attorney General, the accused should be brought before the investigating judge as soon as his health permits. Are being investigated for an attempted homicide.
A neighbor of the driver said to the TV station RTL: “I saw him drive away today, he looked like he was on drugs.” He said: “I’ll be in the newspaper soon.” According to initial information, the driver was not known to the authorities as an extremist. In the past, however, the police had noticed him through insult, trespassing and coercion.
All other Mardi Gras removals in Hesse were immediately canceled and the police presence increased. In neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, however, the big carnival processions continued. Just last Wednesday in Hanau, Hesse, a 43-year-old German shot nine people with foreign roots, apparently for racial reasons. In Kassel last June, a neo-Nazi killed CDU politician Walter Lübcke in protest against Angela Merkel’s refugee policy.
In Germany, cars have deliberately crashed into crowds in the past three years. On New Year’s Eve 2018/19, a right-wing radical steered his car into celebrations in the Ruhr area, whom he believed to be foreigners, and injured a total of 14 of them. In April 2018, a man drove a camper in a street café in Münster and killed four people. Then he shot himself. The police finally classified the incident as an extended suicide. In December 2016, an Islamist assassin raced into a Berlin Christmas market in a truck. 12 people lost their lives, dozens were injured.
Volkmarsen is a small town in the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse with around 6800 inhabitants. It is about 30 kilometers from Kassel.
Created: 02/24/2020, 07:49 PM
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