![\"Mayor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mayor-kai-wegner-speaks-to-the-media-in-berlin-early-sunday-F35NNH7MRZAVHIUGZCELRQKRCI.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA van slammed into people gathered for Berlin\u2019s famed LGBTQ+ event, 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.<\/p>\n
Berlin police said they have identified a suspect, who has not been arrested, that has ties to Islamic extremists in the German capital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe suspect is known to police. He is known to us as a member of Islamic circles here in Berlin, and our search for this person is proceeding at full speed,\u201d said police spokesman Florian Nath. He did not identify the suspect by name.<\/p>\n
Earlier, 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are conducting an intensive search for possible suspects,\u201d police officer Florian Nath said on a short video released on the Berlin police account on X.<\/p>\n
White van hit people in Tiergarten park<\/p>\n
According to police, a white van had driven into the Tiergarten park around 10pm (local time), 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 \u201cdefinitely a lot of police”.<\/p>\n
Overall, more than 2200 police officers have been on duty in Berlin since Saturday morning (local time) to protect the pride parade and other LGBTQ+ events in the city.<\/p>\n
Police were conducting witness interrogations at the park during the night and were investigating accounts that in addition to the crash some victims appeared to have suffered stab wounds \u2014 but that it was too early to draw any conclusion from those accounts.<\/p>\n
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner expressed shock, saying that \u201cfollowing a peaceful and vibrant pride parade, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mayor Kai Wegner speaks to the media in Berlin, early Sunday, July 26, 2026, following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day festivities. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society,\u201d Wegner said. \u201cI have confidence in the police and security authorities, who will be working around the clock to investigate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, authorities called on possible witnesses to come forward and share with police any video or photos they might have taken at the scene of the attack.<\/p>\n
The city also activated a crisis hotline for people missing friends or family members.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of people had come to celebrate at Berlin\u2019s pride parade, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day. It\u2019s one of Europe\u2019s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.<\/p>\n
Iconic pride event called off<\/p>\n
The pride event in front of the city\u2019s Brandenburg Gate, near Tiergarten, was called off around 10.15pm (local time) and a band\u2019s performance on stage was interrupted. People were urged to go home and to avoid taking the route through the park.<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/people-march-with-a-rainbow-flag-during-the-christopher-stre-IDG4JMIP7FA63F3K53NJLNYXDA.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
People march with a rainbow flag during the Christopher Street Day parade in Berlin, on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Before the incident, people had celebrated peacefully, marching through the city for hours, dancing to loud music, and cheering the around 80 floats that participated in the parade.<\/p>\n
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 \u201csomething bad happened there and there are a lot of fire trucks, a lot of emergency vehicles, ambulances”.<\/p>\n
He said he went to Tiergarten and was shocked that something like this could have happened at Berlin\u2019s pride celebrations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a dark day for the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A van slammed into people gathered for Berlin\u2019s famed LGBTQ+ event, killing one person, injuring at least 16…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,43,40,38,41,39,1745],"class_list":["post-544309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}