Germany hunts Islamist suspect after Pride ramming

German authorities have launched a manhunt for a known Islamist suspected of driving a van into a crowd near Berlin’s massive Pride Parade, killing one and injuring 29 others.

“Everything we see here shows that we are facing an Islamist terrorist attack,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters at the scene. he said and said that the minibus passed over the pedestrians and proceeded towards the pavement.

The attack took place around 10pm in the Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate, not far from Christopher Street Day, one of Europe’s largest annual LGBTQ Pride celebrations.

Dobrindt stated that the suspected perpetrator “drew attention due to the numerous criminal crimes he committed in the past, his radicalization and his membership in Islamist circles”, adding that he was a German citizen of Lebanese origin, born in Germany in 2005.

Standing next to Dobrindt, Berlin mayor Kai Wegner said the incident was “probably an Islamist terrorist attack on our way of living together, our liberal democracy, our openness and our freedom.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on people not to scare and divide people due to the attack on the Pride Parade in Berlin.

Shortly before the commemoration ceremony in Berlin on Sunday, Merz said such criminals and extremists have no place in the heart of our society.

“We are more, we are stronger,” he said.

“These actions have only one goal: They want to divide our society, they want to take from us the most important thing we have, which is our openness and freedom,” Merz said. he said.

Berlin police identified the suspect as 21-year-old Abdul B, published his photo and asked the public for information about the suspect’s whereabouts.

They described him as thin, about 1.90 meters tall, with black hair and was last seen wearing a black hooded top and white pants.

But they also warned the public not to approach him, saying he was “probably armed and dangerous”.

Security sources told Reuters the suspect was released from juvenile detention just two months ago.

They said he was known to domestic intelligence and was among hundreds of people classified as potentially dangerous, a label that often leads to scrutiny or surveillance.

Dobrindt said that the attacker mowed down people with a vehicle and then injured some of them with a bladed weapon, thought to be a machete.

The fire department stated that 3 of the injured were in life-threatening condition.

It was unclear whether the perpetrator acted alone, as police said more than one person may have exited the van.

Reuters TV footage from the scene on Sunday morning showed a white van crashing into a tree.

The mass-circulation newspaper Bild said it was a delivery vehicle rented by Abdul B.

German media reported that police searched the suspect’s apartment in Berlin.

Hundreds of people gathered at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Sunday to commemorate the victims of the attack.

The attack comes at a sensitive time for conservative Chancellor Merz’s unpopular coalition government, which is undergoing a frustrating cabinet reshuffle that critics have accused of being ineffective.

State elections are due in two months and the nationalist populist opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is campaigning on issues such as immigration and security in a bid to secure control of a regional government for the first time.

AfD was quick to comment on the attack.

“We will not allow religious extremists to divide our country with violence and intolerance!” AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla said on X:

Germany has seen a number of vehicle attacks on crowds in recent years.

with DPA