BERLIN (AP) 鈥� A van slammed into people gathered for on Saturday, killing one person, injuring at least 16 others and prompting police to call off the celebrations and a concert in the German capital hours after they had begun.
Police said some of the victims had life-threatening injuries. In a post on X, police called on everyone to leave the site of the event immediately as ambulances and firefighters attended to the victims.
According to police, a white van had driven into the Tiergarten park, which is next to the route that the pride march had passed along earlier, and hit several people before colliding with a tree. Police could not say how many officers had been deployed to the scene but that it was 鈥渄efinitely a lot of police.鈥�
鈥淲e are conducting an intensive search for possible suspects,鈥� 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 鈥渁t this point, we don鈥檛 know anything about any possible motives, the identity of the perpetrator or the perpetrators, or anything of that nature.鈥�
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner expressed shock, saying that 鈥渇ollowing a peaceful and vibrant pride parade, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner.鈥�
鈥淭his is an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society,鈥� Wegner said, adding that his thoughts were with the victims, their families, and friends. 鈥淚 have confidence in the police and security authorities, who will be working around the clock to investigate.鈥�
Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Berlin on Saturday to celebrate at Berlin鈥檚 pride parade, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day. It鈥檚 one of Europe鈥檚 largest celebrations.
The pride event in front of the city鈥檚 iconic Brandenburg Gate in the downtown, near Tiergarten, was called off around 10:15 p.m. and a band鈥檚 performance on stage was interrupted. People were urged to go home and to avoid taking the route through the park.
Before the incident, people had celebrated peacefully, for hours, dancing to loud music, and cheering the around 80 floats that participated in the parade.
Julian Miethig, who had attended the LGBTQ+ party at the Brandenburg Gate earlier, said he had just wanted to go to an afterparty when he heard from a friend that 鈥渟omething bad happened there and there are a lot of fire trucks, a lot of emergency vehicles, ambulances.鈥�
He said he went to Tiergarten and was shocked that something like this could have happened at Berlin鈥檚 pride celebrations.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a dark day for the community,鈥� he said.
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