One person has been killed and at least 16 others injured after a vehicle ploughed into crowds attending Berlin’s Pride celebrations in the city centre.
Police said a male suspect has been identified but remains at large, with a citywide manhunt under way. Authorities have not released his name but said he is “known to the police and is associated with the Islamist spectrum.”
The annual Pride event, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day, was cancelled following the incident as police expanded their search across Berlin.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the attack and said authorities would “make sure this horrific act is fully investigated and punished”.
“We believe that a vehicle entered the Tiergarten park and hit several people and injured them,” police posted on social media.
The incident occurred near the Brandenburg Gate, where crowds had gathered for the final celebrations of Christopher Street Day. The landmark borders Tiergarten, the sprawling park in central Berlin where the vehicle was later found.
According to local media reports, witnesses described seeing a white van travelling at high speed before striking people shortly after 10pm local time.
Several witnesses said the vehicle was moving “very quickly” as it entered the crowd, triggering screams and panic as people fled into Tiergarten in an attempt to find safety.
A police spokesperson at the scene said the vehicle continued into the park before it “came to a standstill after hitting a tree here in the Tiergarten”.
Police later said that the vehicle had been found abandoned.
Emergency crews treated the injured near the scene, with police confirming that some had suffered life-threatening injuries. Images from the area showed a major emergency response, including one person being taken to an ambulance on a stretcher.
Large numbers of police officers, firefighters and rescue personnel were deployed, while authorities appealed for witnesses to provide any information, photographs or video footage that could assist the investigation.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner described the incident as “an attack on our free and open-minded society”.
“My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and their friends,” he wrote on social media. “I have confidence in the police and security authorities, who will be investigating with the utmost urgency.”
Earlier on Saturday, large crowds had marched through Berlin as part of the city’s Pride celebrations, among the biggest events in Germany highlighting LGBT rights.
Christopher Street Day takes its name from Christopher Street in New York City, home to the Stonewall Inn, where the 1969 uprising widely regarded as a defining moment in the modern LGBT rights movement began.
Berlin typically attracts around one million people for the annual celebration, which features a parade, musical performances and political speeches.
Following the vehicle incident, a large warning reading “evacuation” appeared on a screen at the Brandenburg Gate as organisers cleared the area and attendees began leaving.
The incident comes months after two people were killed and 22 others injured when a car drove into a pedestrian area in Leipzig earlier this year.
