A vehicle drove into crowd of people attending a pride celebration in Berlin, killing one person and injuring at least 16 others in what the German government called a "heinous act" of violence.
Police said they identified a suspect who was "linked to Islamist circles," Agence-France Presse reported.
Organizers called off the daylong festivities after the incident, which happened shortly before 10 p.m. on Saturday, after festivities in the German capital to mark Christopher Street Day. People were struck when a white van sped into the crowd, Bild newspaper cited a witness it didn't identify as saying.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has been briefed on the events and federal security agencies are ready to help Berlin officials in the investigation, the government said in a statement. Merz and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, the top federal security official, "will push with particular urgency for the resolution and punishment of this heinous act," according to the statement.
Security had been tight along the parade route, with a strong police presence and barriers - including the kind used to deter car attacks - blocking off streets. Hundreds of thousands of people marched along a route through Tiergarten, a downtown urban park, toward a closing rally at the Brandenburg Gate that featured German singer Sarah Connor.
After the incident, emergency vehicles filled the city center after midnight as helicopters circled overheard.
The vehicle drove from a road onto a pedestrian path in the Tiergarten park, where it struck a number of people, and some were critically injured, a Berlin police spokesman said on X. The police spokesperson added in a subsequent post that the investigation was ongoing and asked witnesses to send relevant information, including photos or videos, to help with the investigation.
Christopher Street Day marks the anniversary of the Stonewall riots, when police raided LGBT patrons at New York City's Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in 1969.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner called the incident "an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society."
"Following a peaceful and vibrant Pride parade, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was brutally attacked," he said on X. "Berlin is the city of freedom-and our freedom has been horrifically violated today."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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