Germany launches manhunt after Berlin Pride van ramming

Berlin police said they were investigating whether the Pride ramming attack had a second phase.

A police statement naming the suspect also noted reports that several people were injured with “stabbing weapons.”

Police spokesman Florian Nath cited eyewitness accounts of multiple people suffering stab wounds.

Nath said others described seeing a man dressed in black carrying a machete, DPA news agency reported.

Police are also investigating whether more than one person was seen leaving the vehicle after the ramming attack, AFP news agency reported.

Fire brigade spokesman Dominik Pretz said three of the 16 injured people suffered life-threatening injuries and eight were seriously injured.

Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned Saturday night’s deadly van ramming at Berlin Pride celebrations, describing it as a “heinous act.”

“What a heinous act in Berlin. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world were peacefully celebrating at Christopher Street Day. They wanted us to treat each other with kindness and tolerance. This is an attack on our society,” Merz wrote on X.

The chancellor added: “The act will be investigated and pursued with the utmost severity.”

Meanwhile, Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner, who visited the scene, described the incident as “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. Berlin is the city of freedom, and our freedom has been attacked in the most horrific way today,” Wegner wrote on X.

In remarks to reporters at the scene, Wegner said, “We will not allow our way of life and our way of living together to be taken from us.”

Germany has witnessed several deadly vehicle rammings at major public events in recent years.

In 2016, a Tunisian-born man drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people, in the deadliest Islamist attack in Germany’s postwar history. A 13th victim later died from their injuries.

In 2024, a man plowed his car into a busy Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg, killing at six people and injuring more than 300 others. The perpetrator was a Saudi-born atheist who held anti-Islamic and far-right beliefs.

Earlier this year, two people were killed after a man drove a car through a crowd in the eastern city of Leipzig. Investigators treated the incident as a rampage and the suspect, a German national, was remanded to a psychiatric hospital.

Berlin Police named 21-year-old Abdul B. as the suspect in Saturday night’s van ramming attack at the Berlin Pride festivities.

In a statement, police described him as of slim build, around 1.9 meters tall, with black hair.

The suspect was wearing a black hoodie and white pants.

Police said Abdul B could be “armed and dangerous” and should not be approached.

The public is advised to call the police emergency hotline 110 if they know anything.

Police also said that several people were injured with stabbing weapons, without giving further details.

Good morning from Germany, which is still reeling from Saturday night’s van ramming attack at the Pride festivities in Berlin.

One person was killed and at least 16 others injured, authorities said.

Police said a white van had driven into the Tiergarten park around 10 p.m. local time (20:00 UTC/GMT).

The van hit several people before colliding with a tree.

Berlin police said they are linking the attack with the Islamist scene.

Police said they have identified a suspect, named as Abdul B, who is yet to be apprehended.

If seen, the public is advised not to approach him and to call the police.

In a statement, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he and the country’s interior minister would ensure “this horrific act is fully investigated and punished.”

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner denounced the “attack on our free and cosmopolitan society.”

The city of Berlin has activated a crisis hotline for people missing friends or family members.

Pride is known as Christopher Street Day in Germany, named after the New York street where the 1969 Stonewall riots began and sparked the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement