Terror on the streets of Berlin---Man drives car into a crowd in Berlin shopping street; Two dead, 30 injured


At least two person has been killed and up to 30 have been injured after a car ploughed into crowds near a church in Berlin this morning.

A silver Renault Clio drove into people on Rankestrasse, a street packed with shops and cafes in western Berlin that is overlooked by Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, around 10.30am local time Wednesday. The car repeatedly mounted the pavement and drove around 600ft through crowds before crashing through the front of a perfume shop, German newspaper Bild reported, adding that the driver tried to flee but was held by onlookers until police arrived.

Officers say the driver - a man - has been arrested, but did not say what for. They also refused to say whether they believe the crash was deliberate or an accident. The crash happened just yards from where an Islamist extremist killed 12 people at a Christmas market in 2016 by ramming them with a stolen van.

Actor John Barrowman was in the area at the time, and described hearing a 'loud bang' from inside a shop before running out to a scene of 'carnage' with a dead body lying in the road and police 'everywhere'.

Posting on Twitter from the street, he said: ‘The car came down onto the pavement. Then has come onto the road over there, has hit somebody then has gone down the road and come back onto the pavement… and gone through a bunch of people and then right into a store front window,

Police said: 'A man is believed to have driven into a group of people. It is not yet known whether it was an accident or a deliberate act.'

Berlin's Senator for the Interior, Iris Spranger, said: 'I'm in the situation center and keep myself informed. My thoughts and my deepest sympathy are with all those affected.'

The crash took place near the main shopping district's Breitscheidplatz, the scene of Berlin's 2016 Christmas market attack in which 13 people were killed. 

Twelve died after being rammed by a truck driven by Anis Amri, who had pledged allegiance to ISIS, while the 13th victim was the truck's original driver - shot dead by Amri who stole the vehicle to use in the attack. 

Germany has seen several such attacks since the deadly 2016 assault.

In December 2020, a German man ploughed his car through a pedestrian shopping street in the southwestern city of Trier, killing four adults and a baby.

Earlier the same year, a German man rammed his car through a carnival procession in the central town of Volkmarsen, injuring dozens of bystanders, including children. He was sentenced to life in jail last year.

In January 2019, another German national injured eight people when he drove into crowds on New Year's Eve in the western cities of Bottrop and Essen. He was later taken into psychiatric care.

In April 2018, a German man crashed his van into people seated outside a restaurant in the city of Muenster, killing five before shooting himself dead. Investigators later said he had mental health problems.

During the football World Cup in Germany in 2006, a German man rammed his car into crowds gathered to watch a match at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, injuring some 20 people. The driver was later committed to a psychiatric hospital.

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