eA dark tarpaulin obscures the view of the place where parents and children had just recently celebrated Mardi Gras. The Rose Monday procession in Volkmarsen ended abruptly. Where people cheered the move and caught camels, a car suddenly drives into the crowd. 30 people are injured, seven of them seriously – including children. Remnants of fabric, possibly of costumes, are lying on the floor on Monday afternoon. Everywhere in the streets of the small town in northern Hesse are police and fire-fighting vehicles.
The driver, a 29-year-old German, according to the investigators, is quickly caught, but the background is initially unclear. The General Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt is investigating an attempted homicide. Nothing could be said about the motive, said the spokesman for the authority, Alexander Badle. “We investigate in all directions.”
The dark privacy screen at the crime scene in Volkmarsen is only occasionally opened to allow emergency vehicles in. Even hours after the fact, whole columns of ambulances still roll into town, diesel generators make deafening noise.
Rescue workers take care of injuries
Credit: dpa / Elmar Schulten
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District Administrator Reinhard Kubat himself was a spectator in Volkmarsen. When he heard the first Martinshorns, he ran in the direction. Crying people had already met him on the way. At the scene of the crime, he had a terrible picture. “There were children everywhere on the street.” A witness had told him how the motorist simply drove over the people. Every year there are 4,000 to 5,000 visitors to the move, it is one of the largest in the region, says Kubat.
The carnival procession already indicates this, and whoever drives into the north Hessian half-timbered town and sees the large crucifix in the fields and the St. Marienkirche in the old center, who suspects: Volkmarsen is one of the cities in the Protestant Kurhessen that remained Catholic. The town in the north Hessian district of Waldeck-Frankenberg has around 6800 inhabitants and is around 30 kilometers from Kassel.
Drivers claim to have recognized eyewitnesses
Kurhessen was long part of the Duchy of Westphalia, which reinforced its character as a denominational enclave. Only in these Catholic cities there – such as in Fritzlar or in Naumburg – is carnival celebrated like this. The motive of the attacker is not yet known, but those who come from this small town themselves and race into their most cheerful festival, regardless of even children and toddlers, must either be heavily drugged or must be driven by strong hatred or self-loathing – that obviously wanted to hit his city in the heart.
Shortly after the fact, an eyewitness who had been standing a few meters away told WELT on the phone that he knew the young man behind the wheel of the Mercedes station wagon, that he was from Volkmarsen and in his mid / late twenties. “It was not an accident, it was intentional,” said the eyewitness, the driver “was always a little strange”. And he continued to drive into the crowd, even after he had already injured people. In the evening, the General Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt confirmed that the driver, who was racing in the crowd, was from Volkmarsen.
Confetti is everywhere on the street – but after celebrations no one feels like it. There are still a few groups together, a mother with a pram says: “I didn’t see anything, thank God.” And whoever saw something usually doesn’t want to talk about it.
“Our employees have seen people flying through the air”
Gunther Böttrich, owner of the Burg pharmacy on Steinweg in Volkmarsen, which is in the immediate vicinity of the incident, reached WELT by phone. “Our employees saw people flying through the air. The horror spread across the street, and there were people on Steinweg – the city’s central commercial street, ”he said.
Three or four of these people were “seriously injured”. “Our pharmacy was closed at the time, we opened it to give people the opportunity to take care of them first. Emergency doctors treated us, pastors were here by the fire brigade and others, the driver was sometimes questioned in our pharmacy. ”
– –Source: WORLD infographic
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He and his staff poured water to stabilize the cycle of injured people. “We have had a total of 20, 30 injuries in our pharmacy, including minor injuries,” said Böttrich to WELT.
“We are all affected, everyone deeply shocked”
Volkmarsen’s Mayor Hartmut Linnekugel (independent) said: “We are all affected, everyone is deeply shocked.” An emergency center with pastoral care and police forces has been set up in the town hall, which remains open until Tuesday. Hesse’s Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) was concerned and expressed his sympathy to the victims. “I am shocked by this bad deed, which has caused many innocent people to be seriously injured. I am with the thoughts of the victims and their relatives and friends and wish everyone a quick and complete recovery. “
– –Pictures taken shortly after the alleged attack in Volkmarsen
Source: REUTERS
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The newspaper “Hessische / Niedersächsische Allgemeine” reported that witnesses had described that the driver had bypassed the barrier and then headed for the crowd at full throttle. The witnesses had the impression that the driver was primarily targeting children. There was no information from the police.
According to the “Bild” newspaper, a witness reported that angry people ran towards the driver with their fists raised at the scene, and that the police had to protect him. According to the chairman of the Volkmars Carnival Society, Christian Diste, 700 people in 27 groups took part in the move.
After the incident, all carnival parades in Hesse had been canceled as a precaution. The police headquarters in Frankfurt described the cancellation of ongoing moves as a precautionary measure. How many moves are affected is currently unclear. A spokesman said whether the events scheduled for Tuesday can take place in the street carnival has not yet been decided.
Police set up information portal
The local police called for all speculation, especially on social media, to be avoided. At the same time she judged an information portal, on which eyewitnesses can submit photos or pictures of the incident.
According to the local fire brigade, there was an incident at a carnival event in a hall in Volkmarsen the day before: due to a fire alarm, the venue was cleared on Sunday and the affected area was checked, the fire brigade wrote on Facebook.
– –The driver of the car was arrested
Source: via REUTERS
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The reason for the alarm was not ascertainable. The event then continued after a short break. It is unclear whether there is a connection between the incidents.
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