Hamburg Pride under way with increased security after fatal attack in Berlin

Participants stand on Luebecker Strase at the start of the Hamburg Pride 2026 parade (Georg Wendt/dpa via AP)

Hamburg’s Pride parade, one of Germany’s biggest, is under way with increased security a week after a fatal extremist attack near its counterpart in Berlin.

Dozens of trucks were making their way through the centre of Germany’s second-biggest city and organisers expected about 250,000 people to attend.

Hamburg’s police chief said earlier this week that roughly twice as many officers as last year would protect the event.

The Hamburg event’s motto this time is “Queer in solidarity. Take a stand — for a future without fear”.

A late addition to the trucks taking part was one representing the Berlin Pride event — or Christopher Street Day, CSD for short, as the parades are known in Germany.

People on that truck were asked to wear dark clothing as a sign of respect for the victims of last week’s attack.

Late on July 25, a driver ploughed a van into people a few hundred metres from the closing party of the Berlin Pride event before cutting others with what appears to have been a machete.

A woman was killed and many other people were injured.

The 21-year-old suspect, Abdul Ballout, was killed in a confrontation with police on Sunday.

Investigators later found a video in which a person believed to be the suspect claimed responsibility and pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State group.

Prosecutors have said Ballout, who was born in Germany and has Lebanese roots, travelled to Lebanon in 2025 with the goal of going to Syria to join IS.

He made contact with several people who were presumed members.