The suspect was a 50-year-old medical doctor from Saudi Arabia living in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, said regional premier Reiner Haseloff, speaking at a scene cordoned off and guarded by police commandos.
“We have arrested the perpetrator, a man from Saudi Arabia, a doctor who has been in Germany since 2006,” he told reporters, calling the attack a “catastrophe” for the city and the country.
“From what we currently know he was a lone attacker so we don’t think there is any further danger.”
German media partially named the suspect as Taleb A. and said he was a doctor of psychiatry.
Video footage showed the driver’s arrest as police with their handguns trained shouted “lie down, hands on your back, don’t move!” at the bearded man with glasses who was lying on the ground next to the heavily damaged car.
Police said the vehicle drove “at least 400 meters across the Christmas market” leaving a trail of bloodied casualties, debris, and broken glass at the city’s central town hall square.
Ambulances and fire engines rushed to the chaotic site, which was doused in blue police lights and wailing sirens, as badly injured people were treated on site and rushed off to hospitals.
Cries and screams rang out as around 100 emergency responders deployed to the litter-strewn market decorated with Christmas trees and festive lights.
“The pictures are terrible,” said city spokesman Michael Reif.