Berlin Pride event halted after car ploughs into crowd, injuring several
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One person died and at least 16 others were injured after a car was deliberately driven into crowds at Berlin's Christopher Street Day Pride event, prompting the celebration's finale to be cancelled and triggering a citywide manhunt. Police named the suspect as 21-year-old Abdul B., a German national reportedly linked to Islamist circles, with local media describing him as a supporter of the Islamic State group. Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed the attack would be "fully investigated and punished", while Berlin's mayor, Kai Wegner, called it "an attack on our free and open-minded society".
The vehicle, reported by witnesses as a white van travelling at high speed, struck people in the Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate shortly after 22:00 local time, before coming to a halt against a tree; it was later found abandoned. Emergency services, including a large deployment of police and fire-rescue units, treated casualties at the scene, some with life-threatening injuries, as evacuation warnings were displayed and crowds fled. Earlier that day the parade had drawn huge numbers of participants as one of Germany's largest Pride events, and the attack follows a similar car-ramming in Leipzig earlier this year that killed two people and injured 22.
- Car driven into Berlin Pride crowd kills one, injures 16
- Suspect named as 21-year-old with alleged Islamist, IS links
- Manhunt under way; Chancellor Merz vows full investigation
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Berlin's Christopher Street Day is the city's annual Pride parade, one of Europe's largest, drawing huge crowds each summer to celebrate LGBTQ+ rights and mark the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York. The event typically moves through the city centre before crowds gather for further celebrations, including in the Tiergarten, a large central park.
Vehicle-ramming attacks on crowds at public events have become a recurring security concern across Europe and beyond in recent years, prompting cities to increase barriers and policing at festivals, markets and parades. Germany in particular has seen previous incidents involving vehicles driven into gatherings, which has kept the issue high on the agenda for police and event organisers.
At the time of reporting, it was not yet established whether the incident was deliberate or accidental, and details of the driver and motive had not been confirmed by police.
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Originally published by BBC World as “Several injured at Berlin Pride after reports vehicle drove into crowd, police say”.