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Berlin Christmas market attack: prosecutors assume armed person still at large – live | |
(35 minutes later) | |
2.42pm GMT | |
14:42 | |
Holger Münch, head of federal crime office, laid out more police doubts during the press conference. He said: “Currently we have one suspect but we are not sure whether he is the perpetrator and we don’t know whether there is only one. We have not found the weapon and that leads us to being in a high state of alert. Our investigations are ongoing to see whether there are other perpetrators that we need to arrest.” | |
Chief prosecutor Peter Frank admitted that the apparent terrorist motive was still just an assumption. He said this was an assumption based on the “modus operandi, the similarities with the attack in Nice, and the number of dead.” | |
Updated | |
at 2.51pm GMT | |
2.38pm GMT | |
14:38 | |
Kate Connolly | |
Michael Behrendt, police reporter with Die Welt who first reported police doubts that they had the perpetrator, said investigators were “absolutely at a loss”, writes Kate Connolly. | |
“The police have no idea who they’re looking for,” he says. The relief that they had apparently arrested the perpetrator so soon after the attack, has now given way to a sense of helplessness, he said, comparing the search for the apparently armed attacker to “looking for a needle in a haystack”. | |
“They have no weapon, no DNA traces,” he said. | |
CCTV footage filmed around Breidscheid Platz was being analysed, in the hope it would come up with information that might help to identify the man. “Until they have any concrete information, it’s still completely unclear what they’re dealing with,” he said. | |
2.24pm GMT | |
14:24 | |
Kate Connolly | |
After laying white roses at the scene of the attack in front of the Memorial Church, Merkel held a lengthy discussion with Berlin police chiefs, writes Kate Connolly. | |
Looking extremely grave, she slowly walked through the scene of carnage, talking to her ministers, and accompanied by many security guards. She then entered the church - a Berlin symbol of peace, after it was seriously damaged in World War II, where she was due sign condolence books which Berliners have been queuing up to sign all day. | |
The empty stillness of the market is striking. Normally at this time of the day it would be full of life and kitschy music. Instead, the wooden stalls that were not destroyed in the attack, are closed up. | |
The church’s marine blue stained glass windows were lit up with candle light. | |
2.20pm GMT | |
14:20 | |
Here’s an image of Merkel visiting the scene flanked by her most senior colleagues and the mayor of Berlin. | |
Updated | |
at 2.23pm GMT | |
2.06pm GMT | 2.06pm GMT |
14:06 | 14:06 |
Prosecutors assuming 'attacker still on the loose' | Prosecutors assuming 'attacker still on the loose' |
Back at the prosecutors press conference, Münch says: “We need to work on the assumption that an armed perpetrator is still on the loose. As a result of this we are on high alert.” | Back at the prosecutors press conference, Münch says: “We need to work on the assumption that an armed perpetrator is still on the loose. As a result of this we are on high alert.” |
Updated | Updated |
at 2.36pm GMT | |
2.02pm GMT | 2.02pm GMT |
14:02 | 14:02 |
Merkel visits the scene | Merkel visits the scene |
Kate Connolly | Kate Connolly |
Angela Merkel is visiting the scene of the lorry attack. She is flanked by Berlin’s mayor, Michael Müller, the interior minister Thomas De Maizière, and the foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The chancellor lays flowers at the scene. | Angela Merkel is visiting the scene of the lorry attack. She is flanked by Berlin’s mayor, Michael Müller, the interior minister Thomas De Maizière, and the foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The chancellor lays flowers at the scene. |
Merkel is looking at letters, notes, and candles left by mourners – one sign reads: “Why?” while another says: “The heart of Berlin has been hit.” All the politicians are dressed in black.Close by, a plastic sheet marks the place the lorry crashed into the market. | Merkel is looking at letters, notes, and candles left by mourners – one sign reads: “Why?” while another says: “The heart of Berlin has been hit.” All the politicians are dressed in black.Close by, a plastic sheet marks the place the lorry crashed into the market. |
Updated | Updated |
at 2.11pm GMT | at 2.11pm GMT |
1.57pm GMT | 1.57pm GMT |
13:57 | 13:57 |
Six Germans have been identified among the dead, according to Münch. | Six Germans have been identified among the dead, according to Münch. |
1.55pm GMT | 1.55pm GMT |
13:55 | 13:55 |
Kate Connolly | Kate Connolly |
Q: When did the Polish owner of the lorry report to police that his vehicle was missing?Kandt says the first time they knew about the existence of the lorry was after the attack had taken place. He said the fact the owner had no GPS contact to the lorry was unusual, and therefore it was not to be expected that he would have necessarily contacted the police. | Q: When did the Polish owner of the lorry report to police that his vehicle was missing?Kandt says the first time they knew about the existence of the lorry was after the attack had taken place. He said the fact the owner had no GPS contact to the lorry was unusual, and therefore it was not to be expected that he would have necessarily contacted the police. |
Updated | Updated |
at 2.07pm GMT | at 2.07pm GMT |
1.54pm GMT | 1.54pm GMT |
13:54 | 13:54 |
Kate Connolly | Kate Connolly |
Münch, one of the police chiefs, said if no video appears with a claim of responsibility for the attack, it could heighten suspicions that the attacker was a lone wolf. | Münch, one of the police chiefs, said if no video appears with a claim of responsibility for the attack, it could heighten suspicions that the attacker was a lone wolf. |
Updated | Updated |
at 2.07pm GMT | at 2.07pm GMT |
1.53pm GMT | 1.53pm GMT |
13:53 | 13:53 |
Kate Connolly | Kate Connolly |
Questions are being asked as to why US authorities had apparently warned their own citizens to avoid Christmas markets in Germany, back in November, but German authorities did not issue such warnings.Another question being asked: why were no stone bollards erected at the market?Kandt, the Berlin police president, says even if we had put bollards up it would not have prevented the attack. He said there were “so many potential targets” – with 2,500 Christmas markets in Germany, 60 of them in Berlin. | Questions are being asked as to why US authorities had apparently warned their own citizens to avoid Christmas markets in Germany, back in November, but German authorities did not issue such warnings.Another question being asked: why were no stone bollards erected at the market?Kandt, the Berlin police president, says even if we had put bollards up it would not have prevented the attack. He said there were “so many potential targets” – with 2,500 Christmas markets in Germany, 60 of them in Berlin. |
Updated | Updated |
at 2.06pm GMT | at 2.06pm GMT |
1.50pm GMT | 1.50pm GMT |
13:50 | 13:50 |
Holger Münch, the head of the federal criminal police office, says there is a “question mark” over whether the attacker was an Islamists. | Holger Münch, the head of the federal criminal police office, says there is a “question mark” over whether the attacker was an Islamists. |
Frank said the authorities should know by this evening whether they arrested the right man. He said it was still not clear whether it was a terrorist attack. He said prosecutors were working on the assumption that it could have been a terrorist act based on the method of the attack. But he stressed that nothing was proven. | Frank said the authorities should know by this evening whether they arrested the right man. He said it was still not clear whether it was a terrorist attack. He said prosecutors were working on the assumption that it could have been a terrorist act based on the method of the attack. But he stressed that nothing was proven. |
Updated | Updated |
at 2.03pm GMT | at 2.03pm GMT |
1.45pm GMT | 1.45pm GMT |
13:45 | 13:45 |
Berlin’s police chief, Klaus Kandt, is defending the lack of concrete barriers at the Christmas market. He says the risk of terrorist attacks cannot be reduced to zero. | Berlin’s police chief, Klaus Kandt, is defending the lack of concrete barriers at the Christmas market. He says the risk of terrorist attacks cannot be reduced to zero. |
Updated | Updated |
at 1.49pm GMT | at 1.49pm GMT |
1.43pm GMT | 1.43pm GMT |
13:43 | 13:43 |
Germany’s top federal prosecutor, Peter Frank, has repeated doubts about whether the arrested suspect was behind the attack. | Germany’s top federal prosecutor, Peter Frank, has repeated doubts about whether the arrested suspect was behind the attack. |
“We have to get used to the idea that he may not have carried out the attack,” he told a press conference in Berlin. | “We have to get used to the idea that he may not have carried out the attack,” he told a press conference in Berlin. |
Updated | Updated |
at 1.49pm GMT | at 1.49pm GMT |