MUNICH: An Afghan asylum seeker was arrested after a suspected car ramming attack injured at least 28 people in the southern German city of Munich on Thursday, police said.
The incident comes on the eve of a high-profile international conference in Munich and amid an election campaign in which immigration and security have been key issues after a spate of similar attacks.
A passenger car drove into a street demonstration of striking workers from the Verdi trade union near the city center and was then shot at by officers, said the deputy head of Munich police Christian Huber.
The driver, a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, was arrested at the scene, Huber said.
Earlier a fire service spokesman told AFP that several of those hurt were 鈥渟eriously injured, some of them in a life-threatening condition.鈥�
The state premier of Bavaria Markus Soeder told a press conference that the incident was 鈥渏ust terrible鈥� and that 鈥渋t looks like this was an attack.鈥�
Soeder鈥檚 Bavarian CSU party and its national sister party the CDU have demanded tougher curbs on migration after a series of similar attacks which have shocked the country.
鈥淭his is not the first incident... we must show determination that something will change in Germany,鈥� Soeder said. 鈥淭his is further proof that we can鈥檛 keep going from attack to attack.鈥�
The ground at the scene of the incident was littered with items including glasses, shoes, thermal blankets and a pushchair.
Eyewitness Alexa Graef said she was 鈥渟hocked鈥� after seeing the car drive into the crowd 鈥渨hich looked deliberate.鈥�
鈥淚 hope it鈥檚 the last time I see anything like that,鈥� she said.
An eyewitness who was among the striking workers told the local BR42 website that he 鈥渟aw a person lying under the car鈥� after it drove into the crowd.
The president of the Verdi union Frank Werneke said in a statement: 鈥淲e are deeply upset and shocked at the awful incident during a peaceful demonstration by our Verdi colleagues.鈥�
The incident comes a day before the city is due to host the high-profile Munich Security Conference.
US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are among those arriving on Thursday to attend the two-day security meet.
The latest suspected attack comes amid an already inflamed debate on immigration after several similar incidents, most recently in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg last month.
Two people were killed in a knife attack including a two-year-old child.
After that attack a 28-year-old Afghan man was arrested whom authorities say has a history of mental illness.