One person has died and more than a dozen are injured after a car drove into a crowd at an LGBTQ parade in Berlin, German police say.

The incident at around 10pm local time (20:00 GMT) on Saturday prompted police to call off the event in the German capital hours after it had begun.

According to initial police findings, a white car struck several people in the city’s central Tiergarten Park, near the route of the Pride march, before crashing into a tree, police spokesperson Florian Nath said.

In a post on X, police said at least 16 people were injured and some of the victims had life-threatening injuries. They called on everyone to leave the premises of the event immediately.

Police added that a vehicle was abandoned at the scene in the park – a wooded area of the capital where the parade ends – and they were “conducting an intensive search for suspects”.

Police officers illuminated the area between Potsdamer Platz and the southern side of the Tiergarten tunnel as they searched for evidence, a dpa reporter at the scene said. Meanwhile, emergency services treated the injured.

In the early hours of Sunday, police said they had “identified” but not yet arrested a suspect – a man known to authorities and believed to have links to “Islamic circles” in Berlin, Nath said.

“Our search for this person is proceeding at full speed,” the spokesperson said, without naming him.

Nath added that “we still have no information whatsoever regarding his specific motives, the exact sequence of events, or his role in the crime itself”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged on Sunday to punish the perpetrators.

In a statement, he said he and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt would “push to make sure this horrific act is fully investigated and punished”.

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Separately, Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner expressed shock, saying that “following a peaceful and vibrant Pride parade, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner”.

“This is an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society,” Wegner said. “I have confidence in the police and security authorities, who will be working around the clock to investigate.”

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.

Hundreds of thousands of people had come to the city to participate in the parade, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day. It is one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ celebrations.

The Pride event in front of the city’s iconic Brandenburg Gate in downtown was called off at about 10:15pm local time (20:15 GMT), and a band’s performance on stage was interrupted. People were urged to go home and avoid travelling through Tiergarten Park.

Before the incident, people had celebrated peacefully, marching through the city for hours, dancing to loud music, and cheering the approximately 80 floats that participated in the parade. (Al Jazeera)

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