The Christopher Street Day parade took place on the Straße des 17 Juni, or Street of June 17, in the Tiergarten park and Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate.
A photo published by German tabloid Bild (like POLITICO part of the Axel Springer group) showed a white van with a smashed hood. According to regional media, the man drove the van into a crowd on one of paths in the Tiergarten park.
Both Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the attack. Wegner wrote on X: “It is an attack on our free and open society — after a peaceful and colorful CSD, the assembly for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal way.”
A spokesperson for Merz told Bild that the chancellor condemned what he called the “hideous act.” On Saturday evening, Merz and many other senior German politicians attended the opening of the Bayreuth Wagner Festival in Bavaria.
Berlin has been the site of Germany’s deadliest Islamist terrorist attack. In December 2016, Islamist terrorist Anis Amri drove a truck into a Christmas market, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more.