Friday’s attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg has so far left five dead, hundreds injured, and the script for the country’s February snap election in tatters.
The suspected perpetrator, a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi-Arabia who sought asylum in Germany and has lived there for two decades, was arrested at the scene. As a consequence, a historically short election campaign season will be centred largely around migration. On social media, a debate is already raging as to whether the attack should be treated as a further example of migrant violence or a far-Right hate crime.
