BREAKING: Vehicle Plows Into Crowd in Mannheim City Center

MANNHEIM -- A major police operation is underway in downtown Mannheim following an incident where a vehicle reportedly drove into a crowd of pedestrians Monday afternoon.

According to a dpa reporter at the scene, debris was visible and at least one person was covered by a tarp. Eyewitnesses report that a vehicle drove into a crowd of people in the city center.

Police confirmed the incident occurred around noon on the central parade ground in Mannheim. The vehicle apparently crashed through Planken street, a wide pedestrian zone that also accommodates tram lines.

A police spokesperson stated that investigations are in full swing, but information about a possible perpetrator or motives cannot yet be provided. Authorities have issued an alert through the Katwarn warning service describing a "life-threatening situation" in the area.

Speaking to television station ntv, a police spokesperson said they could not yet confirm whether there had been fatalities. "We currently have absolutely no information," the spokesperson said.

Authorities are urging citizens to avoid the city center and take alternate routes.

This incident comes amid a series of recent vehicle attacks in Germany. In December, six people died in Magdeburg when a 50-year-old doctor drove through a Christmas market. Mid-February saw another attack in Munich where a driver plowed into demonstrators, killing a young woman and a child.

Unlike other Rhine-area cities, Mannheim did not have a major carnival parade scheduled for today. The Mannheim-Ludwigshafen carnival parade had already taken place on Sunday, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors. The popular carnival market on the Planken was set to culminate tomorrow with street carnival festivities on Tuesday.

Mannheim, with approximately 320,000 residents, is the second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg, located at the border junction of Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, and Rhineland-Palatinate.

This is a developing story. Updates will follow as more information becomes available.