Berlin archbishop after deadly attack on LGBT event: ‘Hatred must not win’

The archbishop of Berlin has condemned the deadly attack on an LGBT “Pride” event in the German capital after a minivan was driven into a crowd on Saturday evening, killing one woman and injuring at least 29 people, some of them seriously.

“How terrible! To brutally destroy such a joyful and moving celebration. In our prayers we are with all the victims and their relatives and friends, and also with all those whose joy hatred has taken away. Hatred must not win,” Archbishop Heiner Koch told the German Catholic news agency KNA .

The prelate said intercessions would be offered at Sunday Masses throughout the Archdiocese of Berlin for those affected and for peaceful coexistence in society.

What happened in the Tiergarten According to media reports , a white minivan was driven at high speed into a densely packed crowd at Tiergarten park, the venue of the annual Christopher Street Day (CSD) event, at about 10 p.m. on July 25, roughly 1,300 feet outside the secured festival area, before crashing into a tree.

The driver then attacked bystanders with a machete and fled.

The suspect, identified in German media as Abdul B., was a 21-year-old German citizen of Lebanese background…