The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, vowed to punish those responsible after a car struck people on the outskirts of Berlin’s Gay Pride celebrations, killing at least one person and wounding 16 others.
A suspected perpetrator of the apparent attack on Saturday night has been identified as a member of the city’s “Islamist scene” but he has not yet been arrested, a Berlin police spokesperson said.
The attack forced organisers to cut short one of Europe’s largest Pride events and comes as Germany remains on edge after a series of deadly vehicle and knife attacks in recent years.
Hours after the apparent attack many details remained unclear, but police said the vehicle struck multiple people after charging into the city’s central Tiergarten park close to the Brandenburg Gate.
Police said those hurt “included several with life-threatening injuries”.
The driver of a white van had swerved shortly before 10pm into the Tiergarten park, close to the route of the Pride march held earlier in the day, hitting people on a path and crashing into a tree, police said.
“[The vehicle] was empty, which is why we are currently working intensively to track down the perpetrator or perpetrators,” police said. Tabloid newspaper Bild cited a witness as saying that a man emerged from the vehicle and fled on foot.
A Berlin fire department spokesperson, Dominik Pretz, said one person died and at least 16 others were injured.
Emergency workers set up a helicopter landing pad near the Reichstag parliament building to transport the injured to hospitals.
Merz said in a statement that he and the interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, would “push to make sure this horrific act is fully investigated and punished”.
Julian Methig, who attended the event, described it as a terrible day. “It’s one of the worst days for the queer community and a day I personally hoped I’d never have to experience … I’m shocked.”
Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in the German capital in warm summer sunshine to celebrate the pride parade.
It is known in Germany as Christopher Street Day (CSD), named after the site of the Stonewall Inn in New York City where riots against police raids touched off the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. CSD was first held in West Berlin in 1979.
Berlin mayor, Kai Wegner, called the deadly assault “an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society”.
“Following a peaceful and colourful CSD, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner,” he said on X. “Berlin is the city of freedom – and our freedom has today been attacked in the most appalling way. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends.”
For the first time in its history, CSD began on Friday night this year with a pro-democracy political rally. Berlin will hold a state election in September.
The parade on Saturday ran under the motto “Taking a stand is hot” which organisers said was “in response to increasing hostility” to queer people in Germany.
More than 80 floats and 50 groups on foot joined the procession through the city centre past Potsdamer Platz and the Victory Column monument in the Tiergarten, culminating in a rally at the Brandenburg Gate.
Earlier in the day one person was arrested for resisting police orders at a far-right counterprotest against the event.
Before last year’s pride parade, Berlin LGBTQ+ organisations sounded the alarm that attacks had become more frequent while hard-won rights were under threat.
Campaigners said a rise in hostility has accompanied the surge in support for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, now the most popular party in national opinion polls, as well as an increase in Islamist-inspired attacks.
With Associated Press and Reuters
