1 killed, 17 injured after car crashes into crowd in Berlin: Police

Berlin: One person was killed and 17 others were injured, including several with life-threatening injuries, after a car drove into a crowd at a large Pride celebration in central Berlin on Saturday evening, a police spokesperson said.

The incident occurred during the Christopher Street Day (CSD) parade, Berlin’s largest Pride celebration. Police said on social media platform X that shortly before 10 p.m. local time (2000 GMT), the driver of a white vehicle drove into the crowd, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier, 16 people were reported injured. Updating the casualty figures, Berlin Police posted on X: “According to the latest information, 17 people have been injured, including one deceased person and several with life-threatening injuries. An information center for relatives has been established under 030 8485 4460.”

The police said that the investigations into the incident are ongoing.

The event was called off and the area was cordoned off as a major police operation got underway. Numerous police officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel were deployed to the scene, where the injured were being treated.

According to German news agency dpa, witnesses told police that some people had suffered stab wounds. Police said investigators were examining whether there had been a second phase of the attack after the vehicle drove into the crowd.

Police said an intensive search was underway for one or more suspects. The motive and circumstances of the incident remained under investigation.

Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner wrote on X that the peaceful CSD event had been attacked “in the most brutal way,” calling it “an attack on our free and open society.”

“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.

Tens of thousands of people took part in this year’s CSD parade.

IANS