Michael Steininger
Reporting from Berlin

Image source, Reuters

The scene around the Brandenburg Gate this morning is what you’d expect after a Pride parade: the debris of a raucous party, with empty bottles and paper plates on the ground.

Workers are dismantling the stage in front of the gate, while joggers do their morning rounds through the Tiergarten.

But across town, a massive manhunt is under way for someone police have named as a suspect - 21-year-old Abdul B.

Police say he’s known to have connections to Islamist circles and is believed to be associated with a van that was driven into a crowd on the other side of the park, killing one person and injuring 16 others.

Shortly afterwards - at about 22:00 last night - organisers cancelled the event, which had drawn hundreds of thousands of people, and asked everyone to leave the area.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned what he called an attack on Germany’s open and freedom-loving society.

Berlin should have woken up this morning with a massive hangover after a great party. Instead, the city woke up to the sobering realisation that yet another deadly attack has hit the country.

Organisers of the Christopher Street Day Pride celebrations in Berlin have cancelled two events following the attack.

A clean-up event due to take place at Tiergarten park and a breakfast market scheduled for Sunday morning have both been cancelled.

The Christopher Street Day event itself, which usually attracts around one million people, was also cancelled in the aftermath of the attack.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, AFP

A man who attended the Pride event describes feeling "overwhelmed" and "completely shaken" by news of the attack.

"This is a day of great mourning for the community," he tells AFP.

He also says the evacuation after the incident "went extremely well".

"Of course, it came as a shock at first, but the evacuation went very smoothly and people followed the instructions quickly," he says.

Image source, EPA

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has condemned the incident in Berlin as "a heinous act", saying hundreds of thousands of people were "peacefully celebrating" at the Pride event before it took place.

"They wanted us to treat each other with kindness and tolerance. This is an attack on our society," he writes on X.

He calls Germany "open and freedom-loving", adding that the country will "preserve and defend that".

He says his thoughts are with the victims and their families, and says the act "will be investigated and pursued with the utmost severity".

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Image source, Berlin Police

A manhunt has been widened to cover the whole of Berlin following the attack at a Pride event in the city centre.

Berlin police say they are searching for a 21-year-old suspect who they have named as Abdul B.

The force say he is "alleged to have injured several people with a moving vehicle in the Tiergarten area at approximately 10pm".

"One or more people are believed to have subsequently fled the vehicle," it adds.

The suspect is described as having a slim build, black hair, a black hoodie and white pants. He is around 1.9m tall.

Officers have warned that he may be "armed and dangerous" and the public should not approach him under any circumstances.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

At around 22:00 local time (21:00 BST), Berlin Police report that a white vehicle has struck crowds at a Pride event in the German capital, with several people suffering life-threatening injuries.

Police say an extensive manhunt is under way for one or more suspects and urge people to avoid the area.

The event is cancelled and people are evacuated through the Brandenburg Gate, according to an attendee. Police close the area near Tiergarten park.

At around 01:00, police say one person is dead and 16 injured, some with life-threatening injuries.

Police tell AFP the suspected vehicle has been found abandoned in the park.

At around 03:30, police say on X they have identified a suspect with Islamist links. No arrest has been made or motive suggested.

The search area is widened to the entire city as thousands of police reportedly join the search.

At around 06:30, the suspect is named by police as 21-year-old Abdul B.

The police statement adds that several people are reported to have been injured with stabbing weapons in the attack, and that one or more people are believed to have fled the vehicle.

A white vehicle suspected of being used in the attack has been seen inside the police cordon at Tiergarten park.

Officers have been seen working near the damaged vehicle, which appears to have collided with a tree.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

A large section of Tiergarten park in Berlin remains cordoned off this morning after a vehicle was driven into the crowd at a Pride event on Saturday night.

Officers have been seen searching the park with torches, as a manhunt for the suspect continues.

People were seen embracing loved ones and wrapped in silver thermal blankets, as the fire service said around 30 were treated for shock at the scene.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, Reuters

Several people are reported to have been stabbed in the attack, Berlin Police say in an update.

Earlier this morning, police said one person has died and another 16 have been injured after a car was driven into a crowd at a Berlin pride event, with several people suffering life-threatening injuries.

Berlin police have named the suspect as Abdul B., a 21-year-old man with a "slim build" and black hair. He is wearing a black hoodie and white trousers, they say.

He is alleged to have injured several people in the Tiergarten area and is a fugitive, a statement reads.

"One or more people are believed to have subsequently fled the vehicle," police continue.

"Furthermore, several people are reported to have been injured with stabbing weapons," they add.

Image source, Berlin Police

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

If you're just joining us, here's what you need to know about the incident at Berlin Pride on Saturday night.

What we know

• A white vehicle was driven into the crowd at a Berlin Pride event on Saturday at 22:00 local time
• One person has died and another 16 were injured at the Tiergarten park
• Police described the vehicle as "akin to a minivan or small SUV" and said they had found it abandoned in Tiergarten, where it appeared to have crashed into a tree, a spokesperson told AFP

• Police are conducting an intensive manhunt across Berlin and have asked witnesses to send in photographs or videos
• The search area includes the whole of Berlin, with thousands of police deployed and using helicopters and thermal imaging cameras

• They have identified a suspect as a male "known" to them and "associated with the Islamist spectrum" - but he has not yet been apprehended
• The mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, called the incident, "an attack on our free and open-minded society"
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called it a "horrific act". He promised to fully investigate and punish the perpetrator

What we don't know

• The motivation or identity of the driver

• Whether other suspects were involved
• Why the suspect was already known to police

In a statement published on social media, Berlin Police say they have identified a suspect who is a man and was known to police. They describe him as being "associated with the Islamist spectrum".

They have not made an arrest or suggested a motive, and a search is still under way.

Jared Reed, a reporter at DW based in Berlin, tells the BBC News Channel that thousands of police are searching for the suspect or suspects "in a very large part of central Berlin."

German newspaper Welt reported that more than 2,200 police officers had been deployed since the event began on Saturday morning.

Saturday night's events come after several incidents involving cars being driven into crowds recent years:

• Two people were killed and 22 injured in an incident in Liepzig this May
• Another two people were killed in Mannheim and five others seriously injured when a car drove into a pedestrian area in May 2025
• In February that year, two were killed and at least 30 were injured in a ramming attack in Munich
• In 2024, six people were killed in when a man drove a car into a Christmas market in Magdeburg
• A teacher was killed and 14 students injured in Berlin in 2022 when a German-Armenian man drove into a shopping district
• A baby was among the five people killed in Trier during a ramming attack in 2020
• In February that year, a man was imprisoned for life after injuring almost 60 people in Volksmarsen

The finale of the parade for Christopher Street Day takes place in front of the Brandenburg gate, which backs onto the Tiergarten park.

It is a leafy oasis in central Berlin, larger than London's Hyde Park but smaller than Central Park in New York.

But this evening, a vehicle was driven into people gathered in the park, police said.

When it happened, people ran into the park to try and hide, Eva Baungart, a reporter at Berliner Zeitung, tells the BBC.

The vehicle was later found abandoned there, police told AFP.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Berlin fire department spokesperson Dominik Pretz tells AFP that around 30 people were treated for shock at the scene.

Pictures taken in Berlin show people, wrapped in reflective foil blankets, consoling each other.

Image source, EPA

Police have been using helicopters and thermal-imaging cameras to track down the suspect or suspects involved in the incident, a spokesperson tells AFP.

Now, they have expanded their search to the whole city, Florian Nath says.

He has also given details about the suspected vehicle involved, saying it was "akin to a minivan or small SUV".

A spokesperson for the police has told reporters at the scene they have identified a suspected perpetrator.

The person has not yet been arrested but measures are under way, the spokesperson says.

They are known to the police as a member of "Berlin's Islamist scene", the spokesperson says.

"We have now identified a suspected perpetrator. Measures against this suspected perpetrator, who has not yet been arrested, are underway. However, this suspected perpetrator is known to the police as a member of the Islamist scene here in Berlin," the spokesperson told reporters.

Image source, Reuters

The event is held annually in Berlin and typically about 1 million people were expected, according to the city.

It commemorates the first known uprising among the LGBT community in New York City in 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, which is located on Christopher Street. Residents rioted and protested after a police raid at the inn, which later was made a landmark.

The event in Berlin includes musical performances, political speeches, and a huge parade in the city, which ended near the park, and then a series of events and celebrations into the evening.

The vehicle police suspect was involved in the incident was found abandoned in Tiergarten park, police have told Agence France Presse.

Jared Reid, a reporter at DW, told the BBC news channel that the vehicle appeared to have crashed into a tree, before the driver likely got out and ran.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock