Germany's government pledged on Sunday to bring to justice those responsible for a deadly attack near Berlin's Pride celebrations the previous night, as police appealed to the public for help finding a suspect they described as part of the city's "Islamist spectrum."
A white vehicle ploughed into a crowd in the Tiergarten park, near the Brandenburg Gate, at about 10pm local time on Saturday, not far from Christopher Street Day, one of Europe's largest annual LGBTQ+ Pride events. One person was killed and 16 others injured, eight of them seriously, emergency services said.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the attack as "cowardly" and said it had shaken him profoundly, adding that the government would do everything possible to investigate quickly and bring those responsible to justice.
Manhunt underway
Berlin police said overnight they had identified a suspect previously known to them, later naming him as Abdul B. and releasing his photograph, and appealed to the public for information on his current whereabouts. They described him as slim, around 1.90 metres tall, with black hair, and last seen wearing a black hooded top and white trousers.
It remained unclear whether the attacker acted alone. Police said more than one person may have left the vehicle after it came to a stop, and some of the injured had suffered stab wounds. Fire service officials said three of those hurt were in a life-threatening condition.
Christopher Street Day organisers cancelled the remainder of the event. Much about the incident remained unclear. While police described the vehicle only vaguely as possibly a car, minivan or minibus, the tabloid Bild reported it was a white Citroën Space Tourer delivery van that the suspect had rented himself, and that police were also searching for a second suspected attacker, though this had not been confirmed in the latest police updates.
A police spokesperson at the scene said the vehicle had driven into the Tiergarten around 10pm, injuring several people, before coming to a stop after striking a tree, and that officers were working intensively to track down the perpetrator or perpetrators after finding the vehicle empty.
A sensitive moment for Merz
The attack comes at a delicate time for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's unpopular coalition government, which is in the midst of a difficult cabinet reshuffle amid criticism over its effectiveness. State elections are due in two months, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) campaigning on immigration and security in a bid to win leadership of a state government for the first time.
The AfD reacted quickly. Co-leader Tino Chrupalla wrote on social media platform X that the party would "not allow religious extremists to divide" the country.
Source: Reuters
