Car rams crowd in Germany’s Mannheim, probe underway

One person was killed, and several others were seriously injured after a car drove into a crowd in the Western German city of Mannheim, German police said.

A police operation was underway in the city centre, according to news agency Reuters.

The incident occurred as crowds gathered in cities across the region, including Germany’s Rhineland, for parades marking the carnival season. A black SUV drove at high speed into a group of people, travelling from the centrally located Paradeplatz square towards the city’s landmark water tower, local media reported.

A suspect has been arrested, and authorities have asked the public to stay away from the downtown area and remain indoors.

Officials added that they could not immediately specify how many people were injured or the severity of their injuries.

Mannheim University Hospital told news agency AP that it had prepared for a possible mass casualty incident. The hospital has implemented its disaster and emergency plan to ensure the care of the injured.

Earlier, a spokesperson said the incident had been reported as “a life-threatening deployment situation”.

Authorities issued an alert on the Katwarn app, advising people in Mannheim to avoid the city’s downtown area due to a large police deployment.

Social media accounts connected to the Islamic State militant group called for attacks on the events in the German cities of Cologne and Nuremberg and police have been on alert, Reuters reported.

The Mannheim car-ramming incident comes just two weeks after a similar one in Munich. A 37-year-old mother and her two-year-old daughter were killed when a car was driven into a crowd of people at a trade union rally. Around 30 people were injured.