Berlin Pride celebrations end in tragedy after van attack kills one

Berlin,UPDATED: Jul 26, 2026 05:30 IST

A van drove into people gathered for Berlin's LGBTQ+ celebrations on Saturday night, killing one person and injuring at least 16 others, after which police called off the event and a concert near the Brandenburg Gate. Police said some of the injured had life-threatening wounds and asked people to leave the area immediately as ambulances and firefighters attended to the victims.

Berlin police said they were carrying out an intensive search for possible suspects, but added that it was too early to say anything about the motive or the identity of the person or people behind the incident. "At this point, we don't know anything about possible motives, the identity of the perpetrator or the perpetrators, or anything of that nature," police spokesperson Alexander Klute told The Associated Press.

According to police, a white van drove into Tiergarten park at around 10 pm. The park is next to the route taken earlier by the pride march. The vehicle hit several people before crashing into a tree. Police did not say how many officers were at the scene, but said there were "definitely a lot of police" there.

More than 2,200 police officers had been on duty in Berlin since Saturday morning to protect the pride parade and other LGBTQ+ events in the city. During the night, police questioned witnesses in the park and looked into reports that, besides the crash, some victims may also have suffered stab wounds. They said it was too early to draw any conclusion from those accounts.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said he was shocked by the incident. "Following a peaceful and vibrant pride parade, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner," he said. "This is an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society." He added that he had confidence in the police and security agencies, who would work around the clock to investigate.

Authorities asked possible witnesses to come forward and share with police any videos or photographs they may have taken at the scene. The city also activated a crisis hotline for people who were missing friends or family members. Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Berlin for the pride parade, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day, one of Europe's largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.

The event in front of the Brandenburg Gate, near Tiergarten, was called off at around 10.15 pm, and a band's performance on stage was interrupted. People were told to go home and avoid the route through the park. Before the incident, people had celebrated peacefully for hours, dancing to loud music and cheering the nearly 80 floats in the parade.

Julian Miethig, who had attended the gathering at the Brandenburg Gate earlier, said he was about to head to an after-party when a friend told him that "something bad happened there and there are a lot of fire trucks, a lot of emergency vehicles, ambulances". He said he then went to Tiergarten and was shocked that something like this could have happened at Berlin's pride celebrations. "It's a dark day for the community," he said. The incident brought one of Europe's biggest LGBTQ+ events to an abrupt end after a day that had until then passed off peacefully.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends