European Politics

Well, the police twitter feed has been inactive for 50 minutes, and all news sites and the live stream I'm following say that it's impossible to know anything for sure.
 
There was an initial statement that the police assumed it's an attack, and there is a terror alert for the city, but this is a measure of caution, not proof for anything that happened.
 
From The Guardian:

From our Berlin correspondent:


The lorry was registered to a company in Stettin, Poland. It was on its way back to Poland, having started its journey in Italy. It was due to unload in Berlin where the driver was due to have a break.

The head of the company has said the registered driver was his cousin. He’s said he’d put his hand in the fire that his cousin would not have been behind this attack. The strong suspicion is that the vehicle was hijacked at some point during its journey.
 
The bus crash in Glasgow (that mounted the pavement & ploughed through crowds of people) was just a guy that had blackouts & he hadn't declared this to the DVLA. I have read nothing about this, but it could just as easily be something like this, unless there is information to the contrary.

EDIT: Or not, now that I read stuff. As Perun says, nothing has been said officially so I suppose it will become more clear by tomorrow.
 
Belgian website VTM reports the driver possibly drove twice into the crowd. Citing police man Tom Vandaele, who stood on a 100 meter distance: “What we have understood is that indeed a lorry crashed into the Christmas market, which thereafter was briefly driven in reverse, in order to again drive into the people. "

Other news:

The police reported that the perpetrator ran away from the truck shortly after the accident. Later, further down the city a suspect was arrested in the city, the police think he is the culprit. The motive is still unclear.
 
Dr. Eddies Wingman said:
Police have confirmed that there were two in the truck. One has been arrested, the other one was found dead in the truck.
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Looks like the dead one was the original Polish driver, thus also a victim. Most probably shot dead before the deed on the market had started. The owner of the truck had earlier said he couldn't get into contact with the driver (his cousin).
 
There now is an official statement that it was an act of terrorism, but there is no statement about the background, i.e. whether it was a lone wolf, an organised act or something else.

There is however serious doubt that the suspect who was arrested is actually the terrorist who did it.
 
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Yes. The arrested man denies. He was arrested a few kilometers(!) from the place where it happened. I wonder how the police found out that he is same as the one driving the truck. Did they get video footage of someone leaping out of the car? Or is this purely based on witness descriptions?

edit:
Meanwhile, the man has been released. It is possible that the one who did it is still running free.
 
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Forostar said:
Yes. The arrested man denies. He was arrested a few kilometers(!) from the place where it happened. I wonder how the police found out that he is same as the one driving the truck. Did they get video footage of someone leaping out of the car? Or is this purely based on witness descriptions?
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Somebody is said to have followed him and informed the police.
 
I was at the site of the Berlin attack today. There were seas of flowers and candles on some places on the pavement. I saw an Israeli and an Egyptian flag next to each other in one spot. And a Hertha BSC scarf tied to a bouquet. It was eerily silent for the normally busy square, and there was a strange mixture of sadness, devastation and a "business as usual" attitude. Some people stood there and cried, some people talked quietly, others bought sausage or did Christmas shopping... and one guy stood there with a sign attributing the attacks to "Führerin Merkel". It was heartbreaking. And it was exactly the way you would imagine Berlin dealing with this.
 
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