Leipzig (Germany) (AFP) - A car ploughed into a crowd in the historic centre of the eastern German city of Leipzig on Monday, killing two people and injuring several others, authorities said.

The driver, a 33-year-old German man, was arrested at the scene and officials said his motivation was unclear.

Germany has been shaken by a series of car-ramming attacks in recent years, including one targeting a Christmas market in 2024 in Magdeburg, and also in Berlin and Munich.

In the latest incident in Leipzig, a Volkswagen Taigo car careered from a major square in the old town down a busy pedestrian zone, travelling hundreds of metres.

Hosam Algaer, a Leipzig resident originally from Libya, told AFP he narrowly avoided being hit by the vehicle before running after it to try and help the injured until the car came to a stop.

“The car braked, it stopped,” he said. “There was a woman on top and she ended up under the car, dead. She fell from the roof.”

“Luckily, things were not worse than they were thanks to the screaming,” he added. “People understood very quickly that an idiot was driving and they fled.”

Michael Kretschmer – the leader of Saxony state, where Leipzig is located – said two people were killed, adding that the incident “shakes me to the core”.

“We will do everything in our power to investigate it quickly and fully,” he said. “The rule of law will act with all due rigour.”

While officials did not draw firm conclusions on his motive, several described the incident as an “Amokfahrt” – a German term suggesting a rampage driven by some kind of madness.

This kind of act was “often associated with psychological instability,” said Armin Schuster, the interior minister in the Saxony state government.

Police said late Monday said there was “no basis on current knowledge” to assume a political or religious motive on the part of the perpetrator.

A 63-year old woman and a 77-year old man, both German citizens, died in the incident, they added.

At least two people were seriously injured and about 20 others were more lightly hurt, according to the fire service.

Police said the car ploughed into people on Grimmaische street, a major pedestrian zone in the old town lined with shops and historic buildings.

The driver stopped of his own accord, they added.

- Series of rammings -

TV pictures showed a white vehicle with a badly damaged windshield and hood, and the street cordoned off and surrounded by emergency vehicles.

Police deployed in large numbers in the city, which has a population of around 600,000, along with firefighters, emergency medical personnel and two helicopters.

Authorities said the driver was being investigated on suspicion of offences including murder and attempted murder.

He was believed to have acted alone, police said, and there was no ongoing danger in the city.

Leipzig appeared to be coming back to life quickly, with people sitting at outside tables a short distance from where the incident happened, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Germany has been on high alert for vehicle ramming attacks since December 2016, when an Islamic State group sympathiser ploughed a truck through a Berlin Christmas market.

In 2024, a Christmas market in Magdeburg was targeted by a Saudi man, who drove a car into the crowd, killing six people and injuring more than 300.

The Saudi man, now on trial, was a psychiatrist who adhered to conspiracy theories, held strongly anti-Islam views and repeatedly expressed his fury at German authorities.

In February 2025, a mother and her daughter were killed and around 30 people injured by the Afghan driver of a vehicle that rammed into a march in Munich.

The attacks come as sensitivities around migrants have grown in parts of Germany following a large influx of asylum seekers and refugees in 2015.

Immigration and security have risen up the political agenda in German political debate, helping fuel the rise of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD).