The European institutions and several organisations expressed their solidarity with the victims of the attack carried out on Saturday 25 July, on the sidelines of Berlin’s Christopher Street Day (CSD) (Germany), which — in reference to Christopher Street in New York (United States), where the first known uprising by the LGBTQI+ community against the police is said to have taken place, on 28 June 1969 — refers in Germany to ‘Pride marches’.
According to information reported by several media outlets, on Saturday a vehicle drove into the crowd gathered in Tiergarten park, killing one person and injuring 16 others. The suspect, an alleged jihadist known to the police services, was shot dead on Sunday during an operation in the Spandau district.
The following day, on social network X, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recalled that CSD embodied “freedom, dignity, and equality”. The European External Action Service, the European Parliament, the European political groups Renew Europe, the Greens/EFA, and The Left also condemned the attack.
In a statement, the European Women’s Lobby stressed that the tragedy came at a time when hate speech, anti-gender narratives, and attacks on the rights of women and LGBTIQ+ persons were gaining ground in Europe.
For its part, the European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, ILGA-Europe, which condemned the attack in a statement published on Monday 27 July, nevertheless opposed any instrumentalisation contributing to hatred towards migrants, foreigners, or Muslims. Indeed, the organisation argues that LGBTIQ+ persons must not be used to set minorities against one another and recalls that protecting the ‘Prides’ means defending the freedoms of assembly and expression.
Its 2026 annual report (see EUROPE 13818/17) on the human rights situation of LGBTI persons in Europe and Central Asia indicated that the setbacks observed in 2025 are no longer isolated phenomena, but illustrate a hardening of restrictive policies in several countries. The organisation pointed in particular to the multiplication of bans on ‘Pride marches’, legislation against so-called “LGBTI propaganda”, restrictions imposed on civil society organisations and measures that would limit the rights of transgender, intersex and non-binary persons.
The report also stresses that attacks on ‘Pride marches’ continue to multiply, even as their number increases in the region.
A European strategy confronted with the rise in violence. A few days before the attack, on 14 July (see EUROPE 13910/31), the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) had debated LGBTIQ+ rights.
The discussions focused in particular on the European Commission’s request that Hungary apply the judgment delivered in April by the Court of Justice of the European Union against the anti-LGBTIQ+ law adopted in 2021. The text is accused of stigmatising LGBTIQ+ persons under the guise of “child protection”.
The European Commission’s Deputy Director-General for DG Justice, Irena Moozova, had recalled that this was the first ruling in which the Court concluded that Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union had been violated.
She added that €500 million in cohesion funds remained suspended for as long as Hungary failed to meet the conditions linked to compliance with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The 2026-2030 LGBTIQ+ strategy, presented last October (see EUROPE 13726/1), provides in particular for a study on conversion practices, support for States wishing to ban them, an initiative aimed at harmonising the definition of online hate offences, improved recording of such offences, training for police officers and magistrates, as well as greater support for victims and associations.
The European Parliament’s LGBTI Intergroup then called, in view of several commitments it considered still too “vague”, for specific legislative proposals, better protection for transgender and intersex persons, and a firmer response to bans on ‘Pride marches’ (see EUROPE 13727/29). (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)