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‘All clear’: Dresden hostage situation ends

German police have confirmed that a hostage situation in a Dresden shopping centre has ended.

'All clear': Dresden hostage situation ends
Special forces of the German police stand in the center of the city of Dresden. Photo:Jens Schlueter/ AFP

German police say the hostage situation in a shopping centre in the eastern city of Dresden has ended.

According to BILD, an armed man killed an elderly woman on Saturday morning then shot at the Radio Dresden offices with a pistol. He reportedly then fled to the Altmarktgalerie shopping centre and took hostages in a pharmacy. 

Deutsche Welle reports that the nearby Striezelmarkt Christmas market was closed briefly, but the hostage situation ended in the early afternoon.

Posting on Twitter, police confirmed the operation in Dresden city centre was over, adding that two people, thought to be hostages, were unharmed and in the care of police: “All clear! The hostage situation in #Dresden is over! Two people are in our care, apparently unharmed. #dd1012″.

The city centre, which had been closed temporarily by police, has reopened.

A police spokesman confirmed that a suspect has been arrested: “We arrested the 40-year-old hostage taker. There are now two people in our care who were in his power,” spokesman Thomas Geithner said.

German daily newspaper Bild reports that neither of the hostages were injured.

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CRIME

German Die Linke politician attacked in Thuringia

A politician from Germany's socialist Die Linke party was insulted and attacked in a supermarket in Eisenberg, Thuringia on Friday.

German Die Linke politician attacked in Thuringia

At the supermarket checkout, a man insulted the party’s state election candidate Steffen Much without reason and grabbed him by his T-shirt, the party’s regional association said on Saturday.

Much was unharmed, according to party sources, and filed a police report against the attacker, who he knew.

“I am glad that Steffen Much was not physically harmed,” said the co-chairman of the Left Party’s regional association, Christian Schaft.

“Insults and attacks like these are intended to intimidate everyone who is committed to an open and democratic society.”

There have been several attacks on politicians across the country recently.

READ ALSO: German far-right AfD candidate attacked with knife in Mannheim

The Thuringia state elections take place on 1 September.

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