Car rampage at Berlin Pride march kills one, injures 16
A vehicle plowed into the crowd at Berlin's Pride march on Saturday evening, killing one person and injuring 16, police said. The driver remains at large.
The incident occurred around 10 p.m. in Tiergarten, Berlin's largest inner-city park, near the site of the Pride march festivities. Some of the injured are in critical condition, fire department spokesperson Dominik Pretz told AFP.
Police said a suspect has been identified but remains at large, and is believed to have links to Islamist extremism. Officers described him as a slim 21-year-old man with black hair, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and white trousers. Police said one or more people are believed to have fled the vehicle after it was abandoned a few hundred meters from the Pride march's main festivities.
"A vehicle is believed to have entered Tiergarten park, hitting and injuring several people. The injured are being treated by emergency services. We are actively searching for those suspected of involvement," police said.
Germany's Bild newspaper, citing an eyewitness, reported that a white van struck the crowd. Police described the vehicle as resembling a minivan or small SUV; the accounts have not been reconciled.
Police deployed helicopters and thermal-imaging cameras to locate the suspect or suspects, a police spokesperson told AFP. Authorities said the vehicle's occupant or occupants had fled and that the abandoned vehicle had been recovered. Police said they believe there is no further danger to the public, though they could not rule it out entirely.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner condemned the incident as "an attack on our free and open society." "Berlin is the city of freedom, and our freedom was attacked today in the most terrible way," he said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called Saturday for a "complete clarification" of the incident, describing it as an "abominable act." "The head of government and his interior minister will be involved with particular determination to fully clarify this abominable act and ensure that the guilty party is punished," a spokesperson said in an initial statement.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
