Urgent search for suspect after deadly attack near Berlin Pride / Photo: © AFP
Urgent search for suspect after deadly attack near Berlin Pride
German police on Sunday were hunting for the prime suspect in a car-ramming attack on the outskirts of Berlin Pride, which left one person dead and 16 others injured.
Police said there were indications that the suspect acted out of an Islamist ideology and that he could be armed and dangerous.
The incident late Saturday shattered what had been a day of celebration for hundreds of thousands attending Christopher Street Day (CSD), one of Europe's largest Pride events.
- How the attack unfolded -
Shortly before 10:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Saturday a white vehicle ran into people on the southern edge of central Berlin's Tiergarten park before crashing into a tree.
Police say that "one or more" people then left the vehicle and fled the scene.
They say that several people also suffered stab wounds.
A fire service spokesman said that one person died and 16 others were injured, including three with life-threatening injuries.
The attack took place several hundred metres away from the end of the CSD parade route and the event's main stage at Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate.
The vehicle used in the attack, described by police as a "mini-van or SUV", could be seen on Sunday morning still at the scene, heavily damaged by the impact with the tree.
Lines of police officers were combing the ground near the car in the search for clues.
Shortly after the attack the festivities were cut short, with revellers requested to leave the area.
Despite a search of the park with helicopters equipped with heat-detection cameras, police were not able to locate the suspect in the immediate aftermath.
- The suspect -
Police say that the prime suspect in the case is 21-year-old Abdul B. and put out an appeal for information on his whereabouts as well as photo.
He is described as thin, around 1.90 metres (6.2 feet) tall with black hair and dressed in a black hoodie and white trousers.
Police say he should under no circumstances be approached or contacted directly as he may be armed and dangerous.
A police spokesman earlier told reporters that Abdul B. was believed to have links to "Islamist circles".
- 'Horrific act' -
German politicians were swift to react to the attack, with Berlin's Mayor Kai Wegner condemning a "brutal attack" on "a gathering for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin".
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in the early hours of Sunday that he and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt were being informed of the investigation and vowed to bring those reponsible for the "horrific act" to justice.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was "shaken and outraged" by the attack on "our open society, our way of life" and expressed his condolences to the family and friends of the dead woman.
There were also expressions of solidarity from abroad, with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen expressing "her deepest sympathies" to the victims of the attack.
In a post on X she said that the CSD "stands for freedom, dignity and equal rights -- the foundational values of the EU".
"Every person should be able to live without fear, to love and to stand up for their rights," she said.
Rob Jetten, prime minister of the Netherlands, said he had spoken to Merz to convey his condolences after the "act of aggression" and said that the Dutch stood "shoulder to shoulder with our German neighbours".
On social media members of Berlin's queer community said a vigil would be organised at 2:00 pm local time on Sunday in front of the Brandenburg Gate for people to grieve the victims of the attack.
- Spate of attacks -
Saturday's attack revived memories of a string of similar attacks which have shaken Germany in recent years and inflamed debate on immigration, with several of the perpetrators being from outside Germany.
The deadliest attack in recent years was a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 by a Tunisian man with jihadist motives that killed 13 people.
The run-up to last year's general election saw a spate of attacks in public places, including by attackers with Islamist motives.
However, the worst incident in that period was a car-ramming at a busy Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, in which six people died and more than 300 were wounded.
Last month a Saudi psychiatrist and anti-Islam activist, Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, was sentenced to life in prison for that attack.
O.al-Sadah--BT
