Magdeburg: Anti-immigrant anger rises at scene of German market attack
CNNMagdeburg, Germany CNN — Its glühwein stalls, festooned with Christmas lights and tinsel, stand emptied and shuttered. He is also an avowed atheist and anti-Islam, once describing himself in a 2019 newspaper interview as “the most aggressive critic of Islam in history.” On social media, Abdulmohsen expressed support for the German anti-immigration AfD party and repeated his own frustrations with what he saw as the German government’s soft line on immigration, as well as what he believed was Berlin’s overly cordial relationship with the Saudi regime. Germany, Abdulmohsen claimed, wanted “to Islamize Europe.” Reuters news agency released this image of the suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, sourcing it from a US-based activist group called RAIR Foundation USA. Both share an opposition to mass migration: Far-left party leader Sahra Wagenknecht asked Interior Minister Nancy Faeser “why so many tips and warnings were ignored beforehand.” Meanwhile the far-right AfD – which has made significant ground this year – organized a rally in Magdeburg on Monday evening, which about 3,500 people took part in, according to local police. In a different part of Magdeburg city center, thousands gathered for an event on Monday night countering the AfD rally, which took place under the motto: “We want to mourn / Don’t give hate a chance!” “Everyone deals with this situation in their own way, some are grieving, others are angry.