One person was killed and 17 others were injured after a vehicle drove into a crowd near Berlin’s annual Christopher Street Day (CSD) Pride celebrations on Saturday evening, prompting a large-scale police manhunt for the suspected driver.
Berlin police said the vehicle entered the Tiergarten park area near the Brandenburg Gate at around 10 p.m. local time, striking multiple people before crashing into a tree. When officers reached the scene, the vehicle was empty, and authorities believe the driver fled on foot, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Emergency officials said eight of the injured sustained serious wounds, with three people in life-threatening condition.
Police later said they had identified a suspect known to authorities as a member of Berlin’s Islamist scene. The individual had not been arrested as of early Sunday, and officers were continuing efforts to locate and apprehend the suspect.
“The vehicle drove into the Tiergarten, injuring several people before coming to a standstill after hitting a tree,” a police spokesperson said, adding that investigators were working intensively to track down the perpetrator or perpetrators.
Authorities described the vehicle as a white car, minivan or minibus. German newspaper Bild, citing a witness, reported it was a van and that a man exited the vehicle before fleeing the scene.
The incident occurred as hundreds of thousands of people gathered peacefully for Berlin’s annual Christopher Street Day celebrations, one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ Pride events. Organizers called off the festivities following the attack.
“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,” attendee Julian Miethig said.
Christopher Street Day commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York and is one of Germany’s largest annual events advocating equality, inclusion and protection against discrimination.
The attack is the latest in a series of vehicle-ramming incidents in Germany in recent years. Previous attacks in Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich and the 2024 Christmas market attack in Magdeburg also resulted in multiple fatalities and injuries.