How van ploughing down 20 people in Germany and killing 2 has left the country shaken
German authorities have been in a state of shock after a van “crashed” into people drinking outside a bar in the city of Muenster, killing two people and injuring 20 others. What makes this story take a bizarre turn is that the driver of the vehicle shot and killed himself inside it.
As per a Reuters report, the vehicle ploughed into people seated at tables outside the Grosser Kiepenkerl eatery, a popular destination for tourists in the city’s old town, killing a 51-year-old woman from Lueneburg and a 65-year-old man from Borken. The perpetrator — Martin Botzenhardt, a 48-year-old man from Munich — shot himself after crashing the silver-grey coloured van into the outside area of the restaurant, police said. Six of the 20 injured were in critical condition.
While this incident is eerily reminiscent of three well-publicised terrorist attacks — the first at Nice in France in 2016, where dozens of people were killed when a lorry driven by Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian man, ploughed into a large crowd watching a fireworks display to mark the Bastille Day holiday. The second in New York in 2017, when a driver ploughed a pickup truck down a crowded bike path along the Hudson River in Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring 11 before being shot by a police officer. And the third, that took place in Berlin in 2016, when Anis Amri, a Tunisian man, rammed a truck into a crowded market, killing 12 people and wounding 70 — according to senior public prosecutor Martin Botzenhardt, who issued a joint statement with Muenster police, however, “So far there are no indications of a possible background for the crime. The investigations are being conducted at full speed and on all fronts.”
Herbert Reul, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, also said that investigation on the driver, who was a German citizen, has so far yielded no proof of any possible “Islamist background". On the other hand, the Associated Press reported that according to a police spokesperson, media reports on perpetrator having psychological issues too have not been confirmed.
The incident and its lack of apparent motives have caused a great deal of speculation and concern. Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement she was “deeply shaken”, adding "Everything possible is now being done to clarify the facts and to support the victims and their relatives.”
The White House issued a statement sending US President Donald Trump’s “thoughts and prayers” to the families of those killed. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: “All my thoughts are with the victims of the attack in Muenster. France shares in Germany’s suffering”.
In light of the strengthening of far-Right powers in Germany (and all over Europe), along with a steep rise in Islamopobia in the country — there were 950 attacks reportedly on Muslims and mosques in Germany in 2017. According to government figures — this incident only adds to the confusion. That Islamic terrorists have used a similar modus operandi in multiple attacks also does not help. Only further investigation into the case can shed light on why this act of violence was carried out.