BERLIN, Germany (AP) — A van slammed into people gathered for Berlin’s famed LGBTQ event on Saturday night, killing one person, injuring at least 16 others and prompting police to call off the celebrations and a concert in the German capital hours after they had begun.

Police said some of the victims had life-threatening injuries. In a post on X, police called on everyone to leave the site of the event immediately as ambulances and firefighters attended to the victims.

The suspected perpetrator of the apparent attack was identified as a member of the city’s “Islamist scene,” but he had not yet been arrested, a spokesman for Berlin police said on Sunday.

White van hit people in Tiergarten park

According to police, a white van had driven into the Tiergarten park around 10 p.m., which is next to the route that the Pride march had passed along earlier, and hit several people before colliding with a tree. Police could not say how many officers had been deployed to the scene but that it was “definitely a lot of police.”

Overall, more than 2,200 police officers have been on duty in Berlin since Saturday morning to protect the pride parade and other LGBTQ events in the city.

Police were conducting witness interrogations at the park during the night and were investigating accounts that, in addition to the crash, some victims appeared to have suffered stab wounds — but that it was too early to draw any conclusion from those........

© The Times of Israel