A car plowed through a park during Berlin’s biggest L.G.B.T.Q. Pride event on Saturday, killing at least one person in what the police said was a suspected act of terrorism by a man involved in local Islamic groups.
The police said the suspected attack happened shortly before 10 p.m. in the Tiergarten, a major park in the city center. and that a hunt for a suspect or suspects was underway after the vehicle was found empty and crashed into a tree. At least 16 people had injuries, some life-threatening, according to the police.
Early Sunday, Florian Nath, a spokesman for Berlin’s police, said in an interview that they had identified a suspect: a man who was involved in local Islamic groups and who was already well-known to the police. He did not name the suspect or specify the nature of the groups.
The police had a “strong suspicion” the episode was an act of terrorism, Mr. Nath said, adding that their focus was on finding the suspect and determining if he acted as part of an organized group.
Mr. Nath said earlier that the car “drove through the park and hit several people walking” in an area near the Brandenburg Gate, where the annual gay pride celebration was underway. It was not clear how the car entered the park.
The vehicle, Mr. Nath added, “didn’t exactly hit the parade,” but, by driving through the park, “attacked the people who were going away from the parade.”
The car, a white passenger vehicle, was found crashed into a tree with nobody inside, according to the city police, who asked people to submit any photos or videos to help track down those responsible.
The remainder of Christopher Street Day, a major Pride festival that is among the biggest in Europe, was canceled. The event, named for the New York City street known for its association with the Stonewall riots that sparked the modern gay rights movement, draws hundreds of thousands of people to Berlin each year.
Early Sunday, roads near the site of the suspected attack were blocked off by a heavy police presence. Nearby, emergency personnel had erected a tent to take care of distraught witnesses. Some were seen hugging each other, and some had thermal blankets wrapped around them.
Kai Wegner, Berlin’s mayor, condemned the attack in a post on social media and said his thoughts were with the families of the victims.
There have been several vehicle attacks in Germany in recent years in which assailants drove into crowds. The deadliest of these occurred in Magdeburg, in eastern Germany, in December 2024, when a driver plowed through a Christmas market, killing six people and injuring 309 others.
Yan Zhuang contributed reporting.
