About 28 people were injured when a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker drove a car into a multitude of people in Munich in what the state premiere said was probably an attack on Thursday when the German city was preparing to host a security of Top -level conference.

Police in the southern city said a car was approaching police cars stopped by a demonstration that Verdi Union had before accelerating and hit people.

The suspected attack throws security back into the limelight before a federal election next week after several other violent attacks.

It also came hours before the leading international figures, including US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelenskiy, were in town for high-profile Munich Security Conference, starting on Friday.

“It was probably an attack,” Bayia State Premier Markus Soeder told journalists.

Bayern Interior Minister said he did not suspect there was a connection to the conference.

Police said they had detained the driver and did not consider him to pose any additional threat.

A passerby said he witnessed the incident from a window in a neighboring office building. The car, a Mini Cooper, had made their way between police cars and then accelerated, he said.

Another witness said she had seen part of the incident from a building. The car was accelerated and hit more people in the crowd, she said.

People in the crowd participated in a strike held by Verdi Public Sector Workers’ Union, whose leader, Frank Werneke, expressed shock, but said he had no further details.

Police created a gathering point for witnesses in Loewenbraeukeller, one of Munich’s oldest beer halls.

The incident took place about 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from the security conference site.