Van rams into crowd at Berlin Pride event, one dead; suspect 'linked to Islamist circles'

A van slammed into people gathered for LGBTQ+ event in Germany's capital Berlin on Saturday (Jul 25), killing one person, and injuring at least 16 others. Berlin’s pride parade, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day is one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations. However, after the fatal incident, the pride event was called off and a band’s performance on stage was interrupted. People were urged to go home and to avoid taking the route through the park. The performance was taking place in front of the city’s iconic Brandenburg Gate in the downtown, near Tiergarten.

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Just before the incident, people had celebrated peacefully while marching through the city for hours. Julian Miethig, who had attended the LGBTQ+ party at the Brandenburg Gate earlier, was quoted by CNN saying that he had just wanted to go to an afterparty when he heard from a friend that “something bad happened there and there are a lot of fire trucks, a lot of emergency vehicles, ambulances.” “It’s a dark day for the community,” he added.

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According to police, a white van had driven into the Tiergarten park and hit several people before colliding with a tree. “We are conducting an intensive search for possible suspects,” police officer Florian Nath said on a short video released on the Berlin police account on X. Police spokesperson Alexander Klute told The Associated Press later that “at this point, we don’t know anything about any possible motives, the identity of the perpetrator or the perpetrators, or anything of that nature.” Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner expressed shock, terming the incident as “most brutal.” Berlin police also said suspect identified, believed 'linked to Islamist circles'