Vehicle mows down crowd at Berlin Pride festival, killing one

BERLIN: One person has been killed and 17 injured, ​with some in life-threatening condition, after a vehicle mowed down a crowd near Berlin’s Pride celebrations on Saturday evening, setting off a ‌manhunt for those responsible, the police said.

Hours after the apparent attack many details remained unclear, but police said the vehicle struck multiple people after charging into the city’s central Tiergarten park close to the Brandenburg Gate. They later said they had identified as a suspect and were seeking his arrest.

“According to our latest information, the vehicle drove … into the ​Tiergarten around 10 p.m. (2000 GMT), injuring several people in the process, and then came to a standstill after hitting a tree here in ​the Tiergarten,” a police spokesperson at the scene said.

“It was empty, which is why we are currently working intensively to ⁠track down the perpetrator or perpetrators.”

Eight seriously injured

Among the injured, eight had serious injuries and of those, three were in life-threatening condition, a fire brigade spokesperson ​said.

“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 police spokesperson told reporters.

The police said the vehicle was white, describing it as possibly a car or minivan or minibus. Tabloid newspaper Bild cited a witness as saying it was a van and that a man emerged from it and fled on foot.

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Hundreds of thousands of people ​had gathered peacefully in the German capital for the annual Christopher Street Day celebrations, one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ events, before the apparent attack brought ​it to an abrupt end.

A large number of emergency service vehicles were at the scene.

“It’s one of the worst days for the queer community and a day I personally hoped ‌I’d never ⁠have to experience… I’m shocked,” said Julian Miethig, who attended the event.

Christopher Street Day draws hundreds of thousands of people to the German capital each year. The event commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York and combines a parade with political demands for equality, inclusion and protection against discrimination.

Series of car attacks

First held in West Berlin in 1979, the CSD has grown from a small demonstration into a major fixture of the city’s cultural and political calendar. The parade ​is the centrepiece of the CSD, ​but it is accompanied by a ⁠range of political, cultural and party events held across the city.

Germany has in recent years suffered a series of incidents in which a car has charged into a crowd, causing deaths.

In May, a man believed to have mental health issues drove ​his car into a central pedestrian zone of the eastern German city of Leipzig, killing two people and seriously ​injuring three.

Last year, two ⁠people were killed in the western city of Mannheim when a 40-year-old man whom authorities described as psychologically unwell drove a car into a group of pedestrians.

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Weeks before that, an Afghan national suspected by prosecutors of having carried out a similar attack on a trade union demonstration in Munich, killing two and injuring more than ⁠40, including ​children.