On the cordoned off market street, in the center of Magdeburg, German police stand guard as, one officer told CNN, forensic teams carefully examine the crime scene before scrubbing the blood stains from the road.

After an assailant driving an S.U.V. killed five people, calls for solidarity have quickly given way to criticism by rival lawmakers, ahead of snap elections set for February.

Officials say five people have been killed, including a 9-year-old, after a Saudi doctor drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday.