Thursday. 28.03.2024
ISLAMIST ATTACK

Church bells ring for those killed at Berlin Christmas market

On 19 December 2016, Tunisian national Anis Amri drove a stolen truck through the festive gathering at the Berlin square, killing 11 people and injuring 70 more.

19 December 2020, Berlin: A woman wears a face mask looks at the candles and white roses laid in the shape of a heart at the "Golden Rift" memorial during the commemoration on the fourth anniversary of the Islamist attack on the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market. where On 19 December 2016, a truck was deliberately driven into the Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, leaving 12 people dead and 56 others injured. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa
Commemoration of the fourth anniversary of the Islamist attack on the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa

A memorial service was held at Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Saturday evening for those killed in a truck attack on the Christmas market nearby four years ago.

Some 100 people attended the service, including the city's mayor Michael Mueller and Edgar Franke, the government's commissioner for the victims.

On 19 December 2016, Tunisian national Anis Amri drove a stolen truck through the festive gathering at the Berlin square, killing 11 people and injuring 70 more. Amri had already killed the driver of the truck and seized his vehicle to carry out the attack.

Amri was later shot dead in Italy several days after the attack. There have been fierce discussions over errors associated with the case.

On Saturday, the church bells rang out 12 times at the time of the attack, in memory of the 12 victims.

People laid wreaths, flowers and candles in front of the church, a striking landmark ruin with a broken spire that is a memorial against war. The nearby Christmas market was cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Victims 'not forgotten'

Mueller tweeted the names of those killed and said that they would not be forgotten, and he spoke of the effect the attack had on the city.

Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht said the families of the victims, those injured and the emergency workers involved would all continue to receive support.

At the prayer service, Archbishop Heiner Koch said that the attack had changed the city's history for ever.

The pastor of the church, Martin Germer, recalled other attacks in Paris, Nice, Hanau and Halle, and remembered those affected by loss.

Church bells ring for those killed at Berlin Christmas market