Despite the suspect's many statements expressing hostility to Islam, the head of the AfD in Sachsen-Anhalt, Martin Reichardt, said in a statement "the attack in Magdeburg shows that Germany is being drawn into political and religious fanaticism that has its origins in another world".

Germany's far-right AfD party on Monday held what it called a "memorial" rally for victims of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market that has newly inflamed debate on migrant and security policy.