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Christopher Street Day attack in Berlin: What we know so far
On Saturday, a vehicle drove into a crowd near Berlin Pride celebrations in what is being regarded as an attack on the LGBTQ+ community. The main suspect has since been confronted and shot dead.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HnG7 Advertisement What happened? On Saturday night, around 10 pm, a white van drove into a crowd some 100 meters (328 feet) away from a Christopher Street Day celebration near Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin. Police spokesperson Florian Nath said the van drove through the park parallel to a main road and struck a number of people before crashing into a tree. Afterward, the driver left the van and fled in an unknown direction, Nath said.
Police later confirmed the vehicle was privately owned, not a rental. It was removed from the crime scene on Sunday.
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CDU) later added that a suspect is also believed to have attacked people with a blade-like weapon, possibly a machete, before fleeing.
The area around the crime scene was widely blocked off Saturday night after organizers called off the rest of the event and evacuated festivalgoers. Police searched the Tiergarten area with infrared cameras overnight, spokesperson Nath said.
One woman died following the attack, and 29 people were injured — several of them severely.
"This is an attack on our society," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on social media in response to the attack, which he called "heinous." The people struck were near a closing party of the Christopher Street Day parade, which celebrates LGBTQ+ rights .
Eyewitness accounts initially suggested that multiple attackers were involved, leading the police to search for more than one perpetrator at first.
Interior Minister Dobrindt said Sunday the chief suspect was Abdul B., 21, who had been known to authorities for a "high number" of previous attacks, and for being radicalized. In accordance with the German press code, Deutsche Welle refrains from publishing the full name of criminal suspects.
Prosecutors say Abdul B. shared propaganda for the so-called Islamic State (or IS ) militant group online and had recently unsuccessfully attempted to join the group in Syria.
He later distanced himself from IS. Abdul B. was born in Germany and held German citizenship. His mother had Lebanese origins.
Suspect identified in Berlin Pride attack To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
On Sunday evening, Berlin's Senate Department for Interior Affairs told media the fugitive suspect Abdul B. was shot dead in a police operation in a garden allotment in Spandau, Berlin's westernmost borough. The interior minister has since said there was no longer any danger to the public.
The precise motive has not been established, but based on the main suspect's history, authorities are currently treating this as an act of terror.
"Everything we see here indicates that this was an Islamist terror attack," Dobrindt said on Sunday.
As a result, the Federal Public Prosecutor General will now take up an investigation, as Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig confirmed.
This office usually takes over investigations in cases of serious crimes that affect Germany's internal or external security, such as incidents of terrorism , treason or espionage.
Hundreds of mourners gathered at Brandenburg Gate on Sunday, despite the still ongoing manhunt at the time, to grieve the victims of the attack and express the anger and shock over what is seen as an attack on the LBGTQ+ community.
"Yesterday was an attack on all of us," one speaker said, "on all our identities, our existence, our community, and our democracy. But we will not let it defeat us."
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, "this is an attack on our open society, our way of life and our ability to live together."
Germany calls deadly Pride attack 'Islamic terror' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Several key elections are coming up in a number of German states this year, and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is high in the polls there. Saturday's deadly attack is likely to intensify the debate around migration and security - two topics the AfD leads with nationalist and anti-immigrant positions.
The car ramming on Saturday is reminiscent of similar deadly attacks in recent years, raising concerns over police preparedness for large events, and security responses to known criminals.
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Christopher Street DayBerlinOn SaturdayBerlin PrideLGBTQ
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