Afghan asylum seeker held after car driven into protest

At least 30 people are injured in Munich, two seriously, as German chancellor says perpetrator must leave the country’

- ALEX CROFT

Police have arrested a man after a car drove into a union demonstration in central Munich yesterday, injuring at least 30 people, including children. Authorities said the incident was believed to be an attack.

The suspect, a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, is being questioned. Prosecutors say the suspect has at least “indications of an extremist background”, German news site Zeit Online reports, and Der Spiegel says he is believed to have put Islamist posts on social media before the attack.

The general prosecutor’s office identified him as Farhad Noori. His asylum application had been rejected but it had been impossible to deport him, according to Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann.

The incident follows a series of attacks involving immigrants in recent months that have pushed migration to the forefront of the campaign for Germany’s 23 February election.

At least two people are fighting for their lives after the Mini Cooper was driven into a protest organised by trade union Verdi. The suspected attack took place about one mile away from the venue of the Munich Security Conference, which begins today, with US vice-president JD Vance and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky due to take part.