Van attack on Berlin Pride parade kills 1, injures 16

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A man drove a van into a crowd at Berlin’s Christopher Street Day parade late Saturday, killing at least one person and injuring several others.

Berlin police told POLITICO overnight into Sunday that one person was killed and wrote on social media that 16 people were injured in the attack, some of them severely.

Police also told several German outlets that the suspect, identified as 21-year-old Abdul B., is considered “to be part of Berlin’s Islamist scene.” The suspect remained at large early Sunday morning.

“Our search for this person is proceeding at full speed,” police spokesperson Florian Nath told media outlets . “The suspect is known to police. He is known to us as a member of Islamic circles here in Berlin,” Nath said.

“We still have no information whatsoever regarding his specific motives , the exact sequence of events, or his role in the crime itself,” Nath added.

The police had a “strong suspicion” the episode was an act of terrorism, the New York Times quoted Nath as saying.

The Christopher Street Day parade took place on the Straße des 17 Juni, or Street of June 17, in the Tiergarten park and Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate.

A photo published by German tabloid Bild (like POLITICO part of the Axel Springer group) showed a white van with a smashed hood. According to regional media , the man drove the van into a crowd on one of paths in the Tiergarten park.

Both Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the attack. Wegner wrote on X : “It is an attack on our free and open society — after a peaceful and colorful CSD, the assembly for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal way.”

Merz called the incident “a heinous act” and “an attack on our society,” in a post on X .

“The act will be investigated and pursued with the utmost severity ,” Merz said.

A spokesperson for Merz told Bild that the chancellor condemned what he called the “hideous act.” On Saturday evening, Merz and many other senior German politicians attended the opening of the Bayreuth Wagner Festival in Bavaria.

Berlin has been the site of Germany’s deadliest Islamist terrorist attack. In December 2016 , Islamist terrorist Anis Amri drove a truck into a Christmas market, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more.