Several people have been injured after a vehicle drove into a crowd during a carnival parade in the central German city of Volkmarsen on Monday afternoon.
Local police said that the driver of the vehicle had been arrested after it ploughed into the crowd, adding that police were present en masse at the scene.
At least a dozen people were injured after being run over by the vehicle, according to German media reports, with some outlets reporting that small children were among the victims.
Police said an investigation was underway, urging bystanders of the event to refrain from sharing footage and images online and requesting they upload it to a dedicated information portal instead.
The targetted crowd was marching during the Rose Monday procession, a major event taking place during Germany's carnival festivities.
Unconfirmed witness reports say that the suspect drover a silver Mercedes station wagon some 30 metres into the crowd, De Tijd reports.
The incident on Monday comes less than a week after nine people were killed in a double shooting in Hanau, near Frankfurt, on 20 February, with police later saying the attacker had shot himself in his home.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
