Germany classifies Berlin Pride ramming as ‘terror attack’

Germany’s federal public prosecutor’s office will take over investigations into the Saturday van ramming in Berlin, Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said.

“The Interior Minister has already announced that this is an Islamist attack. The Federal Public Prosecutor General will take over the investigation,” she said.

“Naturally, we will pursue those responsible with the utmost severity and then bring them to trial.”

The office is Germany’s top prosecuting body and is responsible for investigating incidents deemed Islamist terror attacks, among other things.

Berlin police have launched a manhunt after a deadly van-ramming attack at the closing event of Christopher Street Day Pride  celebrations near the Brandenburg Gate.

Investigators identified suspect Abdul B., a German citizen, whom police say is known for links to Islamic circles and may be armed.

The van drove into a crowd in Tiergarten Park shortly after 10 p.m., prompting an evacuation and a major emergency response. Mourners later gathered near the scene despite security concerns.

Bundestag President Julia Klöckner has ordered flags at the German Parliament to be flown at half-staff following the attack at the Christopher Street Day (CSD) event in Berlin.

In a statement, Klöckner said she was “shaken to the core” by the attack and expressed her sympathy for the victims, their families and all those who witnessed the incident.

She wished the injured a full and speedy recovery and thanked police, fire and rescue services, as well as the many volunteers and helpers, for their swift response.

Klöckner described the attack as an assault not only on individuals but also on the values they represent.

“Anyone who attacks people standing up for freedom, equal rights and diversity is attacking the foundations of our democratic community and trampling on human dignity,” she said. She stressed that Germany’s constitution protects the right to live freely and without fear and to stand up for one’s convictions.

The Bundestag president also vowed a determined response to those who seek to respond to freedom and the country’s way of life with terror.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the Saturday van ramming in Berlin as an “abhorrent event.”

“Our thoughts are with the victims of this Islamist terrorist attack,” he told reporters in front of St. Mar‎y’s Church, or Marienkirche, in central Berlin, also extending his sympathy to the families of victims.

“I wish those who sustained injuries a swift recovery.”

He thanked first responders and police for “intervening as quickly as possible, which could well have prevented an even worse outcome last night.”

“Let us not be intimidated by these crimes,” he said, addressing participants of CSD events in Berlin and around Germany. “They want to divide our society, they want to take the most important thing that we have: namely, our open society, our liberal society.”

“We will not allow this poison of terrorism … to spread in our society,” he said. “We will stand together in this country.”

He vowed that the German government would work to bring those responsible for the attack to justice “as quickly as possible.”

Watch below for the coverage following the van ramming attack at the Berlin Pride event that killed one and left several others injured.

Watch the coverage below. 

All evidence in the Berlin Pride parade vehicle-ramming points to an Islamist terrorist attack, Germany’s interior minister says.

Federal Commissioner for Victims Roland Weber is supporting those affected by the attack on the Pride parade — known in Germany as Christopher Street Day (CSD) — in Berlin on Saturday night. 

“It is particularly shocking that an event like the CSD — which stands for equal rights for all and, above all, for love — has become the target of such a hateful attack that shows a complete disregard for human life,” Roland said in a statement.

“My team and I, together with the State of Berlin’s central contact point for victims of terrorist attacks and major incidents, are here to support the victims and their families,” he added.

In the same statement, German Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig meanwhile extended her “thanks to all the helpers and emergency personnel who quickly and dedicatedly came to the aid of those affected.”

“This act will be investigated and prosecuted with the full force of the law,” Hubig said. 

Wegner thanked police and emergency crews for immediately reporting to the scene of the attack, saying “information channels worked.”

He also praised the organizers of Christopher Street Day, saying they had responded “professionally” and “without panic” to the incident.

He stressed that there had been “high security” at Berlin CSD, and the suspect did not manage to attack the main trajectory of the parade, as police had secured the area.

“However, just 400 meters [1312 feet] away, there were still Christopher Street Day attendees — many people who had left the event or were on their way there, as well as ordinary Berliners and visitors to our city,” Wegner said.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner thanked Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and federal authorities for close cooperation with the German capital in investigating Saturday’s car ramming attack.

“Yesterday Berlin had celebrated a great day. Berlin was colorful, Berlin showed how diverse and open this city is,” Wegner said.

The mayor said that city hall would fly its flags at half-mast in mourning.

“It was an attack on all of us,” Wegner said.

The capital’s mayor said that the ramming was an attack on “our way of coexisting” and on “our liberal democracy, openness and freedom.”

He said that a funeral service would begin at St. Mary’s Church in central Berlin at 4:30 p.m. local time (1430 UTC) which would then likely proceed to the city’s iconic Brandenburg Gate.

Interior Minister Dobrindt said that the suspect in the car ramming attack had been convicted by a Berlin court in the past.

The minister said that he had been handed a prison sentence of one year and 10 months, which was then suspended on probation.

He said that the general prosecutor’s office had filed an objection against the suspension of the sentence.

Interior Minister Dobrindt said that the suspect had used a cutting weapon — presumably a machete — to attack more passersby after the car ramming, causing additional severe injuries.

He said the attacker had been known to authorities, adding he had committed several criminal acts.

The suspect had gone through “radicalization” and belonged to the “Islamist scene,” Dobrindt said.

The suspect was born in Germany in 2005, had German citizenship at birth and a Lebanese family background, Dobrindt said.

His mother acquired German citizenship just years before his birth, in 2002.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt spoke at the scene of Saturday night’s car ramming attack and said that authorities believed it had an Islamist motive.

“Everything we see here points to an Islamist terrorist attack,” Dobrindt said.

He said that the suspect is still at large, adding that authorities had dispatched large deployments of police to Berlin and to train stations, airports and borders around the country.

Dobrindt said that authorities knew of some 29 people who had been injured in the attack, some of them severely injured, and one person had been killed.

Previous estimates put the number of injured at 16.

The chief suspect in a deadly attack near Berlin’s Pride parade on Saturday night is a supporter of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group, German media has reported.

The Bild and Spiegel news sites said the 21-year-old man, named by police as Abdul B, was previously convicted for related offences.

The media outlets said B. last year travelled to the Middle East in a failed attempt to join IS.

He was then convicted in Germany of “preparing a serious act of subversive violence,” the papers report.

German police have not confirmed the reports, but are due to issue an updated statement on the attack later on Sunday.

IS has been linked to several attacks in Europe over the past decade and claimed responsibility for the 2016 Berlin Christmas market attack that killed 13 people.

DW editor Sebastian Kröck was 50 meters from the spot where the van, which rammed attendees of the Berlin Pride event, crashed into a tree in the Tiergarten.

Kröck described the scene, which saw one person killed and 16 others injured, as “horrific.”

“We suddenly saw injured, bleeding people running towards us, screaming,” he told DW.

Hundreds of thousands of people had converged on central Berlin for the annual parade, in celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.

The colorful occasion culminated with a concert in the evening near the Brandenburg Gate, including a performance by German singer Sarah Connor.

The attack unfolded just before 10 p.m. local time (20:00 UTC/GMT), in what another attendee, Julian Miethig, described as a “dark day for the community.”

Fortunately, Miethig was outside the immediate area 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.”

The attack on the Berlin Pride is far from the first of its kind, says Raphael Bossong of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Over the last decade, Europe has seen a string of similar attacks.