Germany releases man arrested after Berlin Christmas market crash

The male suspect arrested after the Berlin Christmas market crash on Monday night was freed, Germany's Federal Public Prosecutor's Office announced on Tuesday.

Investigations did not result in a sufficient suspicion against the accused, the office said in a statement.

A lorry ploughed into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday night, killing 12 people and injuring many others.

On Monday night, Berlin police announced over Twitter that a passenger of the truck died on the spot while a suspicious person was arrested near Breitscheidplatz.

However, the suspect denied the offense at Breitscheidplatz square. "We are therefore particularly vigilant," said the police.

Die Welt reported that the Berlin police had admitted that they had arrested the wrong person. The real perpetrator is still "armed and still at large," and can cause new damages, the police were quoted as saying.

It is suspected that the truck was stolen from a construction site in Poland and was deliberately driven into a crowd at the Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz square.

"We must assume it was a terrorist attack," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday at a press conference.

The act will be clarified and punished "as hard as our laws require," she said.

A series of attacks occurred in Germany in this summer, raising concerns over the safety of the country in the fallout of refugee influx in recent years. Endit