Driver 'deliberately' crashes into revellers outside German nightclub

Police in Cuxhaven say the incident was not terror related

Police at the scene in Cuxhaven, Germany (AP)

A 29-year-old drunk man deliberately crashed his car into a crowd outside a nightclub in a town in north Germany, police say.

Police in Cuxhaven, a seaside town at the mouth of the river Elbe, said the man ploughed into six people standing outside the club on Sunday evening before he crashed into a bollard 300 metres down the road.

He was held down by passers-by until officers arrived to arrest him.

Police released a statement ruling out a terrorist motive for the attack.

The statement said: "The investigation shows that a dispute in or outside a Cuxhaven nightclub could be the reason for the incident.

“A political motive can be ruled out at this time.”

On Twitter they had earlier said the driver “probably” came from Syria but asked people not to spread rumours of “fake news”.

All of those injured are German nationals aged between 19 and 29.

The group was taken to hospital but five of them have since been discharged. The sixth person is not thought to be in a critical condition, German news outlet The Local reported.

Despite the incident not being connected to terror, it is likely to be exploited by the far-right in Germany which has tried to stoke racial tensions by claiming the refugee crisis has prompted the recent wave of terror attacks.

The country has been on edge as it approaches the first anniversary of the Berlin Christmas market attack.

Twelve people were killed on 19 December 2016 when Anis Amiri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker, ploughed a lorry into a crowd at a Christmas market next to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in the capital.