Christopher Street Day Berlin took a turn for the tragic on Saturday. A young man drove a white van through Tiergarten Park hitting many people, with one fatal casualty and 29 injured. There unconfirmed report of mass stabbings. Because of a conflicting schedules Black and Paper could not cover the street celebration.
Suddenly at 10:20 text messages started arriving stating there was an incident. Upon getting off the train near the crime scene at the main station, we were greeted with police armed with machine guns walking around. The metro station filled with pride goers heading to other places after the cancelation.
The LGBTQ themed day attracts over 700.000 spectators along the parade route to Bradenburger Tor. Eighty-three trucks and 50 marching groups participated this year under the motto: “Taking A Statement Is Hot.” Pride Days are costume extravagances mixed with a high dose of camp and naked bodies, on the night of 25th, grief took over.
Once again, a high-profile festivity got mass attacked with a vehicle used as a deadly weapon. The Berlin Christmas Market brought home the vulnerability of big events with city officials scrambling to upgrade security yet sadly, over a 2,000 strong police force could not deter the killing. A lone wolf extremist, Abdul B is a suspect after fleeing on foot from the park.
Berlin’s already struggling political class now have more to fret with elections coming in September. The right leaning AFD, polling at 16 to 19 points, party will certainly gain a bump as city leaders figure out how to address the numerous organizational failures in what was supposed to be a day of expression, fun and tolerance.
CSD Berlin 2027, here we come, fiercer than ever.