{"id":137436,"date":"2026-07-30T02:11:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T02:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/137436\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T02:11:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T02:11:37","slug":"berlin-pride-attack-police-shoot-dead-21-year-old-suspect-abdul-ballout-after-manhunt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/137436\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlin Pride attack: Police shoot dead 21-year-old suspect Abdul Ballout after manhunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Police have captured and shot dead the man suspected of killing a woman and injuring 29 others at a Pride event in Berlin in what authorities believe was an Islamist terror attack.<\/p>\n

The attacker, named as Abdul Ballout<\/a>, a 21-year-old German citizen with Lebanese roots, was found at an allotment site in the Spandau area of the city on Sunday evening almost 24 hours after the car and machete rampage.<\/p>\n

Berlin police said he ran at emergency services personnel with a \u201cstabbing weapon\u201d, before armed officers fatally shot him.<\/p>\n

Three victims were still fighting for their lives<\/a> in hospital on Sunday after sustaining life-threatening injuries, and eight others were seriously injured in the attack.<\/p>\n

Police believe Ballout drove into crowds in the Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate at about 8pm on Saturday. He then got out of the car and lashed out at victims with the blade.<\/p>\n

His death ended a manhunt in which residents were warned Ballout he may be armed and dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we see here points to us dealing with an Islamic terror attack,\u201d interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said earlier, adding that the suspect had “drawn \u200cattention to himself through a high volume \u2060of criminal offences, \u200bradicalisation and affiliation \u200bwith the Islamist \u200bscene”.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Getty)<\/p>\n

He was previously sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison, which was later suspended.<\/p>\n

Victims were a mix of festival goers and other locals in the park, which is a few hundred metres from the Christopher Street Day parade closing party at Brandenburg gate.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Berlin to celebrate at the Pride parade, which is one of Europe\u2019s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.<\/p>\n

The celebration was abruptly called off around 10:15pm and a band\u2019s performance on stage was interrupted as people were urged to go home and to avoid taking the route through the park.<\/p>\n

\"GermanGerman chancellor Friedrich Merz and interior minister Alexander Dobrindt pay their respects at Tiergarten park (Reuters)<\/p>\n

As crowds gathered for a vigil at St Mary’s Church in Berlin on Sunday, German chancellor Friedrich Merz urged those celebrating at Pride events not to be intimidated. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to say this to Christopher Street Day participants here in Berlin but also across Germany: Don\u2019t let yourselves, let us not let ourselves be intimidated,” he said.<\/p>\n

“These acts have only one purpose: They aim to divide our society. They want to take away from us the most important thing we have: Namely our openness and our freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said officials will do everything in their power to catch the perpetrator.<\/p>\n

Alexander Dobrindt, the interior minister, promised to review security measures at other major events in Germany, including Pride events elsewhere, admitting they cannot rule out copycat attacks. He said: \u201cThis is not typical of such situations, but it also can\u2019t be ruled out.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were emotional scenes as festival goers gathered at Brandenburg gate on Sunday for an impromptu protest, leaving flowers and paying tribute to victims of the attack. One sign, left with a bouquet of flowers at the park read simply: \u201cLove wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PhotosPhotos show the aftermath of a van-ramming attack near Berlin’s Pride festival (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)<\/p>\n

Defence secretary Wes Streeting joined other world politicians in condemning the \u201cabsolutely horrific\u201d incident. The cabinet minister suggested the attack showed why such LGBTQ+ events were still necessary.<\/p>\n

He told Sky News\u2019 Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: \u201cThere are lots of people who I think don\u2019t accept diversity and difference in our society, and that\u2019s why pride is a celebration but it\u2019s also a protest against those who do not accept life in the 21st century, do not accept people loving each other in same-sex relationships, and in the very worst cases, would seek to do us harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attack came a week before Britain\u2019s biggest Pride festival is due to take place in Brighton and Hove.<\/p>\n

Mr Streeting said: \u201cThe home secretary will obviously, with police chiefs, make the right determinations around what kind of policing presence we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organisers of Brighton and Hove Pride joined other LGBTQ+ groups in an outpouring of support following the attack. \u201cThis is why we march for our rights,\u201d they said in a post on social media. \u201cPride should be a place of celebration and joy. Brighton stands with Berlin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CrowdsCrowds gathered outside Brandenburg Gate for a demonstration in support of the LGBTQ+ community (AP)<\/p>\n

Pride in London said their \u201chearts are broken\u201d by news of the Berlin attack, adding: \u201cPride is a movement built on community, courage and solidarity. In moments of unimaginable pain, we come together. We remember why we march, why we speak out and why we stand with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manchester Village Pride said it was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by the events and sent \u201clove, strength, and unwavering support\u201d to the Berlin Pride community.<\/p>\n

\u201cPride is a celebration of love, diversity, inclusion, and the freedom to be who you are. When one Pride community is impacted, we all stand together in solidarity,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[65697,112,3899,65700,65522,65698,33669,2916,65691,65666,190,10159,65693,65694,428,65669,65668,65664,65696,44014,65692,1207,2542,4412,65690,65663,2272,65695,65699,11673],"class_list":["post-137436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-attending","tag-berlin","tag-brandenburg-gate","tag-carrying","tag-christopher-street-day","tag-city-gate","tag-color-image","tag-conflict","tag-crowd-of-people","tag-gay-pride-parade","tag-germany","tag-horizontal","tag-in-front-of","tag-international-landmark","tag-law","tag-lgbtqia-culture","tag-lgbtqia-pride-event","tag-lgbtqia-rights","tag-night-in","tag-pariser-platz","tag-party-social-event","tag-people","tag-photography","tag-protest","tag-social-justice-concept","tag-suspicion","tag-terrorism","tag-the-tiergarten","tag-vehicle-ramming-attack","tag-violence"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}