Merz vows justice after deadly Berlin Pride car attack

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz promised to punish those responsible after a car struck people on the outskirts of Berlin's Gay Pride celebrations, killing at least one person and wounding 16 others.

The attack forced organisers to cut short one of Europe's largest Pride events and comes as Germany remains on edge after a series of deadly vehicle and knife attacks in recent years.

"A vehicle entered the Tiergarten park and hit several people" just before 10:00 pm local time yesterday evening, police posted on social media, adding that they were hunting for the occupants of the car.

Berlin fire department spokesman Dominik Pretz said one person died and 16 others were injured.

Police told AFP they had found the car they suspected had been involved in the incident abandoned in the Tiergarten park.

Merz said in a statement early this morning that he and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt were being kept informed of the investigation into the "horrific act".

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said in a post on X that a "gathering for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin has been most brutally attacked".

The Gay Pride event was cut short and police told participants to "go home, please" and sealed off the area where the people were injured.

An eyewitness by the main Pride stage at Brandenburg Gate said the crowd complied with the request and moved away from the park.

The programme at the main stage had been scheduled to continue until midnight.

An AFP journalist at the scene saw at least 10 emergency vehicles and a tent set up on the roadway, while police patrols moved through the vast park area.

Violent attacks

Earlier, 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 has been the venue for concerts since Friday.

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

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.

Last month 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.