German vice chancellor warns against fueling anti-Muslim hatred after Christmas market attack

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck on Monday warned his fellow citizens against fueling hatred against Muslims and foreigners in the wake of a deadly attack on a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg.

“Don’t believe what propagandists on the internet want you to believe. The lie is faster than the truth,” Habeck said in a video message posted on social media.

“Take time for the truth. Take time for skepticism, for doubts, for questions. Don’t let hate get to you,” added Habeck, who is also the Green party’s candidate for chancellor in the early general election in February.

His comments followed a far-right protest on Saturday in Magdeburg where a Saudi man drove a car into a Christmas market, killing five and wounding more than 200 people.

The suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor described as being anti-Islam and a supporter of the far-right and Zionism.

He came to Germany in 2006 and had been working as a psychiatrist in Bernburg, south of Magdeburg.

He shared posts in support of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, a far-right party opposed to Muslim immigration, and other anti-Islam groups in Europe.

He is also said to have shared a map of the so-called "Greater Israel" that includes parts of the Turkish territory.