German police hunt suspect after deadly car ramming near Berlin Gay Pride

• A suspect linked to Islamist circles was identified but not arrested after a vehicle rammed into a crowd at Berlin’s Gay Pride, killing one and injuring 16.
• The attack forced organisers to cut short the event, prompting a city-wide manhunt and heightened security measures.
• German leaders condemned the attack, vowing punishment as it follows a series of deadly vehicle and knife attacks in recent years.

BERLIN – German police searched on July 26 for a suspect believed linked to Islamist circles after a car ploughed into a crowd near Berlin’s Gay Pride celebrations, killing one person and wounding 16 others.

The incident shattered what had been a day of celebration for hundreds of thousands attending Christopher Street Day, one of Europe’s largest Pride events, and left revellers fleeing a central Berlin park as sirens echoed through the night.

Police told AFP the suspected vehicle was later found abandoned a few hundred metres from the heart of the festivities in Tiergarten park.

A manhunt involving helicopters and officers from several German states was under way across the capital on July 26.

A suspect, believed to have links to “Islamist circles” had been “identified” but not yet arrested, police spokesman Florian Nath said.

An eyewitness near the main Pride stage at Brandenburg Gate told AFP that celebrations abruptly ended when police instructed people to leave.

“Go home, please,” officers told participants as the crowd streamed away from the park, where emergency crews rushed to treat victims.

The attack occurred shortly before 10pm on July 25 (4am on July 26, Singapore time).

“A vehicle entered the Tiergarten park and hit several people,” police said.

One person died and 16 others were injured, including three with life-threatening injuries, according to Berlin fire department spokesman Dominik Pretz.

Around 30 more people were treated for shock at the scene.

Police spokesman Nath said investigators had identified a suspect but not yet made an arrest, adding that investigators believed he had links to “Islamist circles”.

The search was widened to “the whole city” after the vehicle was discovered abandoned in the vast Tiergarten park.

The vehicle appeared to be “akin to a minivan or small SUV”, Nath said.

The attack immediately revived memories of a series of deadly assaults that have shaken Germany in recent years and fuelled fierce debate over security.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed that those responsible would face justice.

In a statement, Merz described the incident as a “horrific act” and said he and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt were being kept informed of developments.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner condemned what he called a brutal attack on “a gathering for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin”.

Police had deployed more than 2,000 officers to secure the event.

Following the incident, additional personnel from across Germany joined the search operation, supported by helicopters equipped with thermal-imaging cameras.

An AFP journalist at the scene saw numerous emergency vehicles lining a nearby road and a large tent erected as police combed the area.

Violent attacks

Earlier on July 25, hundreds of thousands of people took part in the event, called Christopher Street Day in Germany, which is one of the biggest Pride events in Europe.

The march ended next to the Brandenburg Gate, which had been the venue for concerts since July 24.

Germany has in recent years seen several violent attacks in public spaces, including a stabbing in February 2025 at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial, in which a Spanish tourist was seriously injured. The memorial is located a stone’s throw from the scene of July 25’s incident.

A Syrian man named only as Wassim Al M. was jailed in March for 13 years for that attack, with the court finding he acted in the name of the so-called Islamic State group.

In June, Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, a 51-year-old Saudi psychiatrist, was sentenced to life in prison for killing six people and wounding more than 300.

He drove a rented SUV through a crowded Christmas market in 2024 in the eastern city of Magdeburg.

Abdulmohsen was an anti-Islam activist and his testimony at his trial was sometimes incoherent and riddled with conspiracy theories and fringe far-right ideas.

The deadliest such attack in recent years was a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that killed 12 people.

July 25’s incident comes two months before voters in Berlin elect a new state assembly.

Polls indicate that the centre-right CDU, to which Merz and Wegner both belong, will face a stiff challenge from both the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the far-left Linke parties.

Wegner himself said earlier in July he would not run for re-election after months of criticism over his handling of a major blackout in January apparently caused by sabotage. AFP