German police identify Islamist as suspect in Berlin Pride attack

Sunday, 26 July 2026

A van slammed into people gathered for Berlin’s famed LGBTQ+ event on Saturday night (Sunday NZT), killing one person, injuring at least 16 others and prompting police to call off the celebrations and a concert in the German capital hours after they had begun.

Berlin police said they have identified a suspect who has not been arrested and he has ties to Islamic extremists in the German capital.

“The suspect is known to police. He is known to us as a member of Islamic circles here in Berlin, and our search for this person is proceeding at full speed,” said police spokesman Florian Nath. He did not identify the suspect by name.

“We are conducting an intensive search for possible suspects,” police officer Florian Nath said on a short video released on the Berlin police account on X.

People stand in the street following the cancellation of Berlin’s LGBTQ+ parade.

White van hit people in Tiergarten park

According to police, a white van had driven into the Tiergarten park around 10pm, which is next to the route that the pride march had passed along earlier, and hit several people before colliding with a tree. Police could not say how many officers had been deployed to the scene but that it was “definitely a lot of police.”

Overall, more than 2200 police officers have been on duty in Berlin since Saturday morning (local time) to protect the pride parade and other LGBTQ+ events in the city.

Police were conducting witness interrogations at the park during the night and were investigating accounts that in addition to the crash some victims appeared to have suffered stab wounds — but that it was too early to draw any conclusion from those accounts.

Berlin’s mayor Kai Wegner speaks to the media after the incident.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner expressed shock, saying that “following a peaceful and vibrant pride parade, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner.”

“This is an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society,” Wegner said. “I have confidence in the police and security authorities, who will be working around the clock to investigate.”

Meanwhile, authorities called on possible witnesses to come forward and share with police any video or photos they might have taken at the scene of the attack.

Emergency personnel tend to a person on a stretcher after a white van drove into a crowd at the annual gay pride parade in Berlin.

The city also activated a crisis hotline for people missing friends or family members.

Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Berlin on Saturday to celebrate at Berlin’s pride parade, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day. It’s one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.

Iconic pride event called off

The pride event in front of the city’s Brandenburg Gate, near Tiergarten, was called off around 10:15pm (local time) and a band’s performance on stage was interrupted. People were urged to go home and to avoid taking the route through the park.

Before the incident, people had celebrated peacefully, marching through the city for hours, dancing to loud music, and cheering the around 80 floats that participated in the parade.

Julian Miethig, who had attended the LGBTQ+ party at the Brandenburg Gate earlier, said he had just wanted to go to an afterparty when he heard from a friend that “something bad happened there and there are a lot of fire trucks, a lot of emergency vehicles, ambulances.”

He said he went to Tiergarten and was shocked that something like this could have happened at Berlin’s pride celebrations.

“It’s a dark day for the community,” he said.