Man held after threatening to stab Arabs at Christmas market in northern Germany

Police arrested a man in the northern port city of Bremerhaven for threatening to stab anyone who "looks like Arabs or South Europeans" at the city's Christmas market, media reports said on Monday.

The suspect was temporarily apprehended in Bremerhaven Sunday evening after internet users reported his TikTok video to police in which he said he would go to the city's "Christmas market on December 25 and stab anyone who looks Arabic or southern European."

"I take enough knives with me. This isn't a joke. I have nothing to lose. I'll kill anyone who looks Arabic," he added.

Police did not initially release any further details about the arrest or how serious the threats were.

The latest threat comes just three days after a Saudi man drove a car through the Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, killing at least five people, including a nine-year-old child. More than 200 people were injured.

The suspect in the Magdeburg attack is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor described as being anti-Islam and a supporter of the far-right and Zionism.

He came to Germany in 2006 and had been working as a psychiatrist in Bernburg, south of Magdeburg.

His social media posts often expressed concerns about the rise of Islam in Germany. He shared posts in support of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, a far-right party opposed to Muslim immigration, and other anti-Islam groups in Europe.

He is also said to have shared a map of the so-called "Greater Israel" that includes parts of the Turkish territory.