The German city of Magdeburg will have a Christmas market this year, local authorities announced Tuesday, despite safety fears following a deadly car-ramming attack at last year's event.
The attack on December 20th, 2024 killed six people and wounded more than 300, shocking the country.
Magdeburg city authorities initially refused permission for this year's market, saying the planned security measures were insufficient.
However, on Tuesday Mayor Simone Borris said in a statement that the local authorities and police had agreed on extra steps to ensure the safety of the market, which will open on Thursday.
She said all involved had made "tremendous efforts" to ensure the market could go ahead, and thanked organisers and stallholders, "who have shown a lot of patience and understanding in recent days".
Saudi national Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, 51, is currently on trial over last year's attack.
Abdulmohsen -- a critic of Islam and an adherent of far-right views and radical conspiracy theories -- faces life in prison if convicted.
The rampage, which came after another deadly attack at a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016, provoked a heated debate about the security of the festive installations.
On Tuesday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the federal government is "making every effort to reach common standards" for the safety of markets across the country, which would otherwise be the responsibility of local authorities.
A few cities have even cancelled the beloved winter tradition because of the cost of security measures.
Germany's federal police told AFP on Tuesday they had "no information or indications pointing to a concrete threat" to Christmas markets.
In 2024, there were 7,000 such markets across the country, pulling in around 170 million visitors.
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