On Saturday night in Berlin, I was sitting outside one of the city's many Spätis finishing off the last of my beer when I heard the sirens. Hearing police and ambulance sirens in a major city on a weekend is of course nothing out of the ordinary. But I remember thinking it seemed pretty constant.
Earlier that day, I'd been wandering around the Friedrichshain area of the city, a place with impressive Soviet-era architecture that has a large alternative and LGBTQ scene. It's around a 15 minute train ride on the U-Bahn to the Brandenburg Gate, and the streets were full of people heading to Pride, known as Christopher Street Day. The day is a huge event, and it was a hot summer's day, so I was contemplating taking a trip down there to check it out. I'd been speaking to a tattoo artist from Chile who's lived in Berlin for eight years, and he was telling me earlier in the day how great of a party it all is. He was heading down with a bunch of friends.
In the end I decided to head back to the Pankow district, where I've been staying for the past couple of weeks. It was outside a Pankow Späti when the sirens began sounding. It wasn't until the next morning I'd heard what had happened.
The Attack and the Aftermath
Abdul Ballout, 21, drove a van into the Pride crowd near the Tiergarten, killing one person and injuring many others. After a manhunt, he was tracked down and shot dead by police.
Despite not being a part of the LGBTQ community myself, I have friends and family who are, and an attack such as the one on Saturday, in a city that is renowned for its inclusiveness, its cultural diversity and liberal arts scenes, is, of course, deeply worrying. Sadly, those I personally know within the community have told me that they are not particularly surprised that such an attack has taken place. This has happened at a time when social media is rife with homophobic and racist rhetoric.
It was only last week that ChronicleLive had to remove comments from a Pride article due to the amount of abhorrent comments that had been posted. My colleague Simon Duke wrote this piece about Facebook comments on Pride stories on Facebook - which shows exactly why we need Pride more than ever.
The Memorial at Brandenburg Gate
Following on from the attack, a memorial was set up at the Brandenburg Gate, and people have been laying flowers, notes and tributes ever since. Members of the LGBTQ community across Berlin have been paying their respects, along with the many tourists and visitors to the city. A large police presence remains in the area.
Dana, 35, who is from West Germany, was celebrating Pride in another area of Berlin on Saturday, as she wasn't feeling well enough to head to the Tiergarten area. She paid her respects at the Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday with her friend Marcel, 41, who lives in the Heinersdorf area of the city. She told me seeing the tributes has given her “hope”.
She said: “Seeing these tributes gives me hope. The world feels like it is getting increasingly transphobic and homophobic, but seeing all of the people here, the messages and tributes, it does give me hope. “We will fight, we will never go away. Queerness will always be a part of humankind.”
Dana said that they were at another event at the time of the attack, and did not become aware of it until some time after. Dana and Marcel said they did generally feel safe in Berlin before Saturday's events, and have attended many Pride events before. Dana added: “We got back home and didn't check the news or anything, but a friend messaged me asking if I was alright. That's when I was told of the attack. “The thing is, if I was slightly fitter, I would have been there. I thought ‘damn’, just because I wasn't feeling as well I had been, I was safe, while others weren't. That cost me some sleep.”
A Message That Stays
At a time when Pride flags are being removed from council buildings, and vile social media rhetoric becomes more prevalent online, it's important to gain some perspective on its impact. As people continued laying flowers at the Berlin memorial, one sign simply read: ‘Keine Hetze’ - No Hate Speech.
