Two days after a deadly attack near Berlin's Christopher Street Day (CSD) Pride parade, mourners gathered at Tiergarten park — a large urban green space in the heart of the German capital — to pay tribute to the victims. Candles, flowers and handwritten messages including "You are not alone" and "Don't let them divide us" formed a makeshift memorial near the tree where the attacker's vehicle came to a halt. Rainbow flags and Pride symbols were placed among the tributes.

The attack occurred late on Saturday evening when a rented minivan was driven into a crowd at the edge of the Pride event, after which the attacker continued his assault with a machete. A 65-year-old Polish woman was killed and at least 29 others were injured. A manhunt is underway; police have named the suspect as 21-year-old Abdul B. and have released his image. A vehicle believed to have been used in the attack was subsequently located within Tiergarten park.

The assault was not the only violent incident to mar the day's celebrations. Members of Berlin's Ukrainian LGBTQ+ community, who had attended the parade aboard their own truck, also reported bottles being thrown at them — apparently by a coordinated group dressed in red and black — near Nollendorfplatz. A separate incident saw someone fire an airsoft pistol at the parade from a balcony on Courbièrestraße. For many Ukrainian attendees, including members of Kwitne Queer, an LGBTQ+ human rights organisation, the day's events triggered painful echoes of dangers they had fled in their home country. "We see a growing radicalisation and hostility towards people who are simply exercising their basic rights," said Noel Ravytski, a board member of the organisation.

For long-time participants in Berlin's CSD, the attack has reinforced why visibility and collective action still matter. Several people described a day of exhilaration — hundreds of thousands marching, rainbow flags flying from public buildings across the city — that gave way to shock and grief as news of the attack spread through phones late that night. "Burying your head in the sand is not an option," one participant wrote, capturing a mood that has moved, in the days since, from grief through anger toward renewed determination.

Berlin's state health and social services authority (Lageso) has set up a free, confidential telephone counselling hotline for those affected by the attack, reachable Monday to Friday. Kwitne Queer is separately offering support to members of the Ukrainian LGBTQ+ community in Germany. Community members and advocates are united in one message: solidarity must be stronger than hatred, and the work goes on.