Berlin's Queer Commissioner on Fatal Car Ramming Attack on LGBTQ+ Pride Celebration
A man drove a minivan into a crowd of people near Berlin’s Pride celebrations on Saturday, killing one person and injuring 29 others. Authorities shot and killed the man during an operation on Sunday. The alleged suspect was identified as Abdul Ballout, a 21-year-old German citizen. According to authorities, Ballout tried to join the Islamic State in 2025 and was released from prison in May after being jailed for preparing an attack.
“The far right here in Germany is, of course, waiting for an attack like this one to use it in order to highlight that the foreigners are the problem,” says Alfonso Pantisano, LGBTQ affairs commissioner for the Berlin state government. “By doing so, they completely forget and avoid to look at how much queerphobia there is in this country in all various levels of structures.”