Afghan criminal who drove car into crowd in Munich should have been deported after asylum application was rejected
An Afghan criminal whose asylum application was rejected drove a car into a crowd of demonstrators after reportedly posting a slew of Islamist rants online.
Farhad N., 24, injured at least 28 people, including a child after ploughing his Mini Cooper through a demonstration in Munich on Thursday. The child’s life is said to be in danger.
The Afghan asylum seeker, born in Kabul in 2001, was arrested at the scene after cops fired gunshots at his vehicle this morning.
Farhad was reportedly known by local police for drugs and theft and is believed to have accelerated his vehicle into the crowd of 1,000 strikers at around 30mph, according to Swiss publication Blick.
Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said his asylum application had been rejected in 2016 when he arrived in Germany.
However, the Afghan is said to have received a so-called toleration permit from the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), which meant that his deportation was suspended.
Following the tragic incident, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: ‘This perpetrator cannot hope for any leniency. He must be punished and he must leave the country.’
He added: ‘If this was an attack , we must take consistent action against possible perpetrators using all legal means at our disposal.’
Footage captured the moment the driver, Farhad N., (right) was arrested by police after he drove through the crowd
Members of the emergency services work at the scene where a car drove into a crowd in the southern German city of Munich on February 13, 2025 leaving several people injured
In images circulating online police can be seen gathered around to assess the damage
According to German newspaper Spiegel, Farhad is said to have uploaded Islamist posts online before the crime.
Munich Police took to social media on Thursday morning to reassure that the driver was secured on site and ‘currently poses no further danger’.
It then moved to overtake, accelerated and reached the end of the rally.
‘[Police] colleagues caught the attacker. One shot was fired at the vehicle. The attacker was arrested. We currently estimate that we have at least 28 people injured, some seriously.
‘The exact number has not yet been determined. As regards the attacker, what we can say is that he is a 24-year-old Afghan, with asylum seeker status.’
It comes as Bavarian governor Markus Söder said that ‘it is suspected to be an attack.’
‘We have to change something – and quickly,’ Söder added, referring to Germany’s migration crisis which he and other politicians are pushing to tighten.
Police are now working on confirming whether the driver had acted deliberately when driving into the rally.
‘Police investigations must now clarify whether he drove into the crowd intentionally or confused the accelerator and brake,’ Bild reported.
Footage from the scene captured the moment the driver was arrested, as cops swarmed the vehicle and pinned him to the ground.
The incident comes as world defence leaders including US Vice-President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gather in the Bavarian city for a major security conference.
Ambulances are seen on site after at least 28 people were left injured following the smash
Bavarian state premier Markus Soeder and interior Minister Joachim Herrmann arrive at the scene
Horror videos circulating online also saw several wounded victims lying in the streets being treated for injuries after the white car crashed through the Dachauer Straße area this morning.
Eyewitnesses told German newspaper Bild that two men were in the Mini and shots were fired before the driver was detained. There is currently a major police operation in the area, local police have stated on X/Twitter.
On social media, one witness, a German journalist, said the incident left people ‘crying and shaking’ on the ground.
‘A person was lying on the street and a young man was taken away by the police,’ Sandra Demmelhuber said.
‘People were sitting on the ground, crying and shaking. Details still unclear,’ the reporter added.
A demonstrator told Bayerischer Rundfunk: ‘I was in the demonstration and saw that a man was lying under the car. Then I tried to open the door, but it was locked’.
‘Eventually the police came and shot at the car window, so he retreated and took care of the injured’.
Munich’s mayor Dieter Reiter told Bild: ‘The police chief has just informed me that a vehicle drove into a group of people and unfortunately many people were injured, including children. I am deeply shocked.
‘My thoughts are with the injured.’
In images circulating online, the Mini Cooper can be seen with a smashed windshield and crushed bonnet as police gather around to assess the damage.
The Mini Cooper was driven through a crowd of 1,000 protesters
The front of the car was completely destroyed following the incident
A view of the damaged car after a car ploughed into a crowd in the southern German city of Munich
Verdi union flags are pictured near the site where a car drove into a crowd in Munich
On Thursday, several city employees stopped their work to demonstrate in a protest demanding an eight per cent increase, higher bonuses, and three additional days off.
The Verdi Union had called for the demonstration.
The Munich Verdi managing director Claudia Weber, 58, who was waiting for the demonstration at Königsplatz, told Bild: ‘It’s all so unbelievable. We are totally shocked and are incredibly afraid for our colleagues who were part of the demonstration.
‘We heard that the car drove straight into the demonstration on purpose. Hopefully there will be no deaths.’
In an update on social media, Munich Police have urged locals to avoid the area so that investigations can continue smoothly.
‘There will be traffic disruptions around the scene of the incident. Please avoid the area so that the emergency services can work unhindered,’ it said in a post to X/Twitter.
Cops have also stated they have set up a witness collection point in the Löwenbräukeller on Stiglmaierplatz.
A pram lies on the road beside a car that drove into a crowd in Munich
Rubbish was seen strewn across the road following the incident
Police work at a car which drove into a crowd in Munich, Germany, February 13, 2025, injuring several people
Munich police said on social media platform X that ‘several people were injured’ after ‘a car drove into a group of people’ in the centre of the Bavarian state capital
The smash comes on the same day as an Afghan man with suspected Islamist sympathies went on trial in Germany on charges of murder and attempted murder after a stabbing attack targeting a political rally in the western city of Mannheim.
The trial takes place at a time of heightened debate in Germany around asylum rules and security before a national election on February 23.
The centre-right and far-right have vowed tough action on migrant crime, following several violent attacks in recent months.
The defendant, identified by prosecutors as Sulaiman A., is accused of stabbing and seriously injuring six people, including a 29-year-old policeman who died of his injuries, during the attack on an anti-Islam demonstration in late May 2024.
He covered his face with a folder during his appearance at the higher regional court in Stuttgart, the state capital of Baden-Wuerttemberg, where Mannheim is located.
The suspect was taken into pre-trial custody on June 18 after leaving intensive care for injuries he sustained in the attack.
And just weeks ago, a car drove into a group of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, leaving at least two dead and nearly 70 injured.
The driver of the car, reported to be a dark BMW, was arrested following the crash.
Bild reported that the car was driven ‘at least 400m (1,300ft) across the Christmas market’, per a police spokesperson.
