A deadly car strike on the edge of Berlin’s Gay Pride celebrations brought one of Europe’s largest Pride gatherings to an abrupt and grim halt, as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed that those behind the violence would be held to account.
At least one person was killed and 16 others were injured, deepening anxiety in a country already shaken by a succession of fatal vehicle and knife attacks in public places over recent years.
Police said on social media that, shortly before 10:00 pm local time yesterday evening, “a vehicle entered the Tiergarten park and hit several people”, adding that officers were searching for the people who had been inside the car.
Dominik Pretz, a spokesman for Berlin’s fire department, confirmed that one person had died and that 16 others were hurt.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner addressed reporters near the scene
In a statement early this morning, Merz said he and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt were receiving updates on the investigation into what he described as the “horrific act”.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner wrote on X that a “gathering for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin has been most brutally attacked”.
Organisers ended the Gay Pride event early, while police sealed off the area where the casualties occurred and urged those still nearby to “go home, please”.
One witness near the main Pride stage at Brandenburg Gate said the crowd followed the instruction and began moving away from the park.
The main-stage programme had been due to run until midnight.
An AFP journalist at the scene saw at least 10 emergency vehicles and a tent erected on the roadway, as police patrols swept through the sprawling park.
A history of violent attacks
Earlier in the day, hundreds of thousands of people had joined the celebration, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day and regarded as one of Europe’s biggest Pride events.
The parade finished beside the Brandenburg Gate, where concerts had been taking place since Friday.
Germany has endured a string of violent incidents in public spaces in recent years, including a February 2025 stabbing at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial, only a short distance from the scene of Saturday’s incident, that left a Spanish tourist seriously wounded.
The car suspected of being involved in the incident was discovered in the Tiergarten park
In March, a Syrian man identified only as Wassim Al M. was sentenced to 13 years in prison over that attack, after the court found he had acted in the name of the so-called Islamic State group.
Last month, Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, a 51-year-old Saudi psychiatrist, received a life sentence for killing six people and injuring more than 300.
He had driven a rented SUV into a crowded Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg in 2024.
Abdulmohsen, an anti-Islam activist, gave testimony during his trial that was at times incoherent and filled with conspiracy theories and fringe far-right ideas.
The deadliest attack of this kind in recent years was the December 2016 truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market, which killed 12 people.
