German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday visited the site of a deadly car-ramming attack on a crowded Christmas market that shocked the nation, to pay tribute to the victims.
Five people were killed and more than 200 were wounded, Saxony-Anhalt state premier Reiner Haseloff said on Saturday, updating the toll.
Scholz, who was with him to pay respects in the eastern city of Magdeburg, voiced special concern for some 40 critically injured people and condemned the “terrible catastrophe”.
Police arrested a 50-year-old Saudi doctor of psychiatry at the scene after an SUV ploughed through the festive crowd on Friday night.
A sombre Scholz, dressed in black, was joined by national and regional politicians and a security detail in the eastern city of Magdeburg, where they laid flowers outside the main church.
Mourning and bereaved residents had already left candles, flowers and children’s toys at the Johanneskirche church, where a memorial service was planned at 7pm.