Pride march draws hundreds of thousands in Germany week after attack

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Some 300,000 people took part in a Pride march in Hamburg in Germany on Aug 1.

Some 300,000 people took part in a Pride march in Hamburg in Germany on Aug 1.

PHOTO: EPA

  • Around 300,000 people joined a Pride march in Hamburg, Germany, showing solidarity a week after a deadly jihadist attack on a similar parade in Berlin.
  • The Berlin attack killed one woman and injured 31 others when a van was driven into the crowd by a man linked to the Islamic State group.
  • The attacker, Abdul Rahman Ballout, was known to authorities and died after being shot by police when he charged them with a bladed weapon.

AI generated

HAMBURG – Some 300,000 people took part in a Pride march in Germany’s northern city of Hamburg on Aug 1, a week after an Islamic militant attack on a similar march in Berlin left one dead and several dozen injured.

Under clear skies, people of all ages waved rainbow flags as they march on foot or rode in floats through the city, according to an AFP photographer.

“Solidarity among LGBT people, take a stand for a future without fear,” read some of the placards.

Both police and march organisers put the turnout at around 300,000.

Police were out in force, one week after a man who had reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group in a video ploughed a minivan into a crowd near the parade in Berlin.

A 65-year-old Polish woman was killed and another 31 people were injured.

The alleged attacker, 21-year-old Abdul Rahman Ballout, was shot dead by police, who said he had run at them with a bladed weapon.

Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was known to the criminal justice system and in 2025 travelled to Lebanon in a failed attempt to fight for ISIS. AFP

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