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Driver Slams Car Into German Carnival Crowd Driver Slams Car Into German Carnival Crowd
(about 1 hour later)
BERLIN — A driver who plowed his car into a crowd at a carnival gathering in the German town of Volkmarsen on Monday, injuring several people, was arrested at the scene, according to the authorities. BERLIN — A man who drove his car into a crowd on Monday at a carnival gathering in the German town of Volkmarsen, injuring several people, was arrested at the scene, the police said.
The police were investigating the incident and it was not immediately clear whether the driver targeted the gathering or it was an accident. It was unclear if he drove his car into the crowd on purpose or if it was an accident.
The regional police in North Hesse, which includes Volkmarsen, said they had opened an investigation into the accident, saying it might have been intentional or caused by a technical problem in the vehicle or a medical emergency.
“At this point we are still looking at all possibilities,” said Frank Siebert, a spokesman for the police in North Hesse.
The authorities canceled all other carnival parades across the state following the accident.
The crash happened around 2:30 p.m. on Shrove Monday, when thousands of Germans dress up and throng the streets for carnival parades, which are particularly popular in Roman Catholic regions in the country’s west and south. A silver Mercedes Station wagon, drove around a barrier and into the crowd, Waldeckische Landeszeitung, a regional newspaper, reported.
At least 15 people were injured, the paper reported, but it was not clear how seriously.
Children were among the wounded, according to the paper. The police could not immediately confirm the number of injured.
The event comes days after Horst Seehofer, the German interior minister, ordered an increased police presence across the country, especially around larger events, after a racist extremist killed nine people in Hanau on Wednesday. The gunman was later found dead, alongside his mother.