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At least one person died and 17 others were left injured, several seriously, after a driver struck a crowd near Berlin's annual Christopher Street Day Pride event in Tiergarten park on Saturday night.
According to Deutsche Welle (DW), German authorities launched a massive manhunt after finding a heavily damaged white vehicle abandoned at the scene, though police have not yet determined whether the incident was intentional or directly targeted the gathering. "We believe that a vehicle entered the Tiergarten park and hit several people," Florian Nath, spokesman for Police Berlin said in a post on X.A massive deployment of emergency crews and law enforcement officers descended on the centre of the German capital as investigators searched for the driver, DW reported. "We are conducting an intensive search for possible suspects," a police spokesperson said, adding that there was "definitely a lot of police" deployed to the scene. Reflecting on the fatal consequences of the incident, the Berlin police said that of the 17 wounded, several have life-threatening injuries. The spokesperson added that an information centre for relatives has been established. https://x.com/polizeiberlin/status/2081152532156502300 Visiting the site shortly after the incident, Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner strongly condemned the violence and described it as a direct strike against the city's values. "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. Berlin is the city of freedom - and our freedom has been attacked in the most horrific way today. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends. I thank the emergency services who were immediately on site and did everything in their power. And I trust the police and security authorities, who will investigate at full speed," Wegner said on X. https://x.com/kaiwegner/status/2081137722119365005 The tragedy unfolded as hundreds of thousands of people gathered across Berlin to advocate for tolerance and diversity, culminating in concerts near the Brandenburg Gate. Following the collision, the CSD parade, which crosses Berlin's Tiergarten to the Brandenburg Gate, was abruptly called off around 10:15 p.m., interrupting a live band's performance as organisers and police instructed attendees to clear the area, DW reported. Authorities urged people to "go home, please," and asked the public to avoid travel routes passing through Tiergarten park as emergency operations continued. (ANI)
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