One woman was killed and 29 others injured when a car crashed into a crowd near Berlin on Saturday night. pride Celebration, why? german Authorities are investigating the attack as a suspected Islamist terrorist attack.
Authorities were searching Sunday for a 21-year-old suspect, identified as Abdul B., according to a German news program. targetschau. Police warned that he could be armed and dangerous and asked the public not to approach him.
“Everything you see here shows that we are dealing with an Islamist terrorist attack,” German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters. Federal prosecutors who handle terrorism and national security cases took over the investigation. Authorities have not said whether the attackers chose the crowd because of its association with Berlin’s Christopher Street Day, a common name for Pride celebrations in Germany.
related: Security officials warn that LGBTQ+ Pride Month events could become a target for foreign terrorists
Pride celebration turns into crime scene
The attack occurred near Tiergarten, a large park in central Berlin, shortly before 10pm, as Saturday’s Christopher Street Day events were drawing to a close. Hundreds of thousands of people had marched with the slogan “It’s hot to stand up”.
Armed police stand near the scene where a car hit people, killing one person and injuring around 16 others, on the outskirts of the Christopher Street Day (CSD) parade in Berlin on July 25, 2026. Ralf Hirschberger/AFP via Getty Images
A white car drove down a path in the park, hitting several people before colliding with a tree, Tageschau said. The driver then fled. Investigators are also looking into reports that some victims were attacked with knives. Several people were initially reported to have life-threatening injuries, but authorities announced Sunday that none of the surviving victims were in immediate danger of death. At least 30 witnesses received psychological care, according to Targetschau’s report.
The identity of the murdered woman has not been made public.
related: Two homophobic assaults reported after Berlin Pride celebrations
Police search for suspect suspected of links to extremists
Police said the suspect was known to law enforcement and involved in Islamist activities in Berlin. Mr. Targetschau, German broadcasters NDR, WDR, newspaper quotes Süddeutsche Zeitungreported that security officials considered him to be potentially violent.
On July 26, 2026, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (right) holds a press conference in front of the Marienkirche in Berlin with the Berlin City Hall (Rothes Rathaus) in the background. He spoke about the deadly car ramming attack in Tiergarten park that left one woman dead and 29 others injured on the sidelines of the Christopher Street Day (CSD) parade the night before.John McDougall/AFP via Getty Images
The suspect is said to have attempted to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State terrorist organization. According to Target Schau. Authorities had not arrested him as of Sunday. It also remains unclear whether others took part in the attack. Witnesses differed on how many people got out of the car, and police searched the apartment but were unable to identify the suspects.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the violence as an “abhorrent act”. Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner called it “an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society.”
related: Preventing terrorist attack on Vienna’s Pride Parade
LGBTQ+ communities face persistent violence
Pride celebrations are both a festival and a declaration that LGBTQ+ people have the right to openly occupy public spaces. That visibility also makes events and the communities surrounding them targets for intimidation and violence. Berlin’s Christopher Street Day traces its origins to the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York, when LGBTQ+ patrons resisted police raids and sparked the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
People hug during a demonstration during a so-called “community mourning” on Palliserplatz in front of the landmark Brandenburg Gate on July 26, 2026, a day after a car rammed people during the Christopher Street Day (CSD) parade in a Berlin suburb, killing one person and injuring 16 others in the Tiergarten park, late July 25, 2026. Ralf Hirschberger/AFP via Getty Images
According to figures cited by the newspaper, German authorities will record 2,070 politically motivated crimes related to sexual orientation in 2025, including 284 violent crimes. German Lesbian and Gay Federation. Authorities separately recorded 1,294 crimes related to gender diversity, including 112 violent crimes. Categories may overlap.
Although right-wing extremism had the highest identifiable ideological proportion of these crimes, authorities also recorded attacks related to religion and foreign ideology. Across Europe, 14 percent of LGBTQ+ respondents said they had been physically or sexually attacked in the past five years. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. More than half reported anti-LGBTQ+ harassment in the previous year.
The agency and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe warned that government officials were likely underestimating the problem because victims may distrust police or be afraid to reveal their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Other deadly attacks on LGBTQ+ spaces have occurred in Europe. In 2022, on the morning of Oslo’s Pride Parade, a gunman opens fire near the London Pub, the heart of Oslo’s queer community. Two people were killed and more than 20 injured. That year, extremists motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ hatred killed two people outside a queer bar in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Mourners place flowers in front of the landmark Brandenburg Gate on July 26, 2026, during a so-called “community mourning”, a day after a car rammed people during the Christopher Street Day (CSD) parade in a Berlin suburb, killing one person and injuring 16 others in the Tiergarten park, late July 25, 2026. Ralf Hirschberger/AFP via Getty Images
In the United States, a gunman killed 49 people at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando in 2016. Six years later, another gunman killed five people and injured 19 others at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
F.B.I. data show Among the single-bias hate crimes reported in 2024, sexual orientation bias accounted for 17.2% of victims. Gender identity bias accounted for an additional 3.9%.
On Sunday, thousands of people gathered in Berlin for a memorial event, proving that violence does not prevent progress and acceptance.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
