Police call off pride parade in Berlin and say several people have been injured

Berlin police called off the LGBTQ+ pride parade in the German capital on Saturday, hours after the event had begun, saying it was because several people had been injured.

They did not say how many people had been injured.

Police called on everyone in a post on X to leave the premises of the event immediately.

They did not say what exactly had happened, only that they had deployed strong police forces.

Police a short while later said a car had driven into the Tiergarten park, near the route of the pride march, hitting several people.

Police did not know how many officers had been deployed to the scene but that it was “definitely a lot of police”.

“We are conducting an intensive search for possible suspects,” a police officer said on a short video released on the Berlin police account on X.

https://x.com/polizeiberlin/status/2081120335282205111?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Berlin on Saturday to celebrate at Berlin’s pride parade, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day.

It’s one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.

The pride event in front of the city’s iconic Brandenburg Gate in downtown was called off around 10.15pm and a band’s performance on stage was interrupted.

People were urged to go home and to avoid taking the route through the Tiergarten park.