Car drives into German carnival parade, ten injured: police

Emergency vehicles at the scene after a car ploughed into a carnival parade injuring several people in Volkmarsen, Germany February 24, 2020. Elmar Schulten/Waldeckische Landeszeitung

Ten people were injured on Monday after a car plowed into a carnival parade in the western German town of Volkmarsen, police said, adding that the driver had been arrested.

Police declined to say if it was an accident or if the driver had deliberately rammed the car into the crowd.

German news website HNA cited witnesses as saying the driver appeared to have deliberately targeted children and had driven “at full throttle” into the crowd, which had gathered for the Shrove Monday procession.

The incident comes less than a week after a man gunned down 11 people, including himself, in one of the worst racist attacks in Germany since World War Two.

Carnival is hugely popular in parts of western Germany, especially in Rhineland cities such as Cologne and Duesseldorf, where festivities peak on “Rose Monday” with tens of thousands attending street parades featuring comical or satirical floats.

Police cars and ambulances rushed to the scene in Volkmarsen, a small town in northern Hesse, 263 miles, 423 km west of Berlin.

“We are on the ground with a big deployment. An investigation is underway,” north Hesse police said on Twitter.

Amateur pictures published online showed police officers standing next to a silver Mercedes-Benz car that appeared to have been involved.

German media said the driver deliberately broke through plastic barriers set up by police around the parade area.

The car had continued driving through the crowd for about 30 meters (33 yards) before coming to a halt in the incident, which took place at around 2.30 pm (1330 GMT), an eyewitness told broadcaster Hessenschau.

Source(s): Reuters