Germany's Merz vows political response after attack on Berlin Pride

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday announced political consequences following the deadly attack on Berlin Pride.

"Statements alone are not enough. We will have to respond with composure, but also with resolve," the chancellor said in Berlin, two days after the attack in the Tiergarten park during celebrations for Christopher Street Day (CSD), the name used in Germany for Pride events.

The 21-year-old suspect, Abdul B, reportedly drove into a crowd with a van and attacked passers-by with a machete before fleeing, leading to a day-long manhunt that ended in him being shot dead by police. 

The key question, Merz said, was how the suspected Islamist attacker could make his way unhindered to the vicinity of the parade and carry out the crime.

"The target of this attack was not chosen at random," Merz said. "It was not only an attack on the queer community - it was an attack on our freedom, an attack on our open society. It was an attack on our freedom and our liberalism. We will do everything to protect and defend the freedom, the openness and the liberalism of our society." 

Merz - who visited the site of the attack with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Sunday - said the leadership of his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) discussed the incident on Monday. 

"We are thinking of and praying for the victim who died, for their family and for those who were injured," he said. 

Members of Merz's conservative party have called for youth sentencing laws to be tightened following the attack. The Berlin-born suspect with Lebanese roots was well known to authorities and had previously been given a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months.