Members of the LGBTQIA+ community and gay rights advocates from across and outside Germany flocked to the northern city of Hamburg on Saturday for a massive pride march that overshadowed the terror of last week’s fatal attack on a similar event in capital Berlin.
Rainbow flags and colourful placards adorned the streets under clear skies, as people of all ages and genders marched on foot or rode on floats through Germany’s second-largest urban centre.
The gathering, which took place under the theme “Queer in solidarity. Take a stand for a future without fear,” was the latest addition to the country’s Christopher Street Day (CSD) celebrations, which are held annually in Germany and other parts of Europe for weeks in solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community.
Berlin Pride
Saturday’s pride march in the port city came a week after a man ploughed a van into a crowd near the CSD event in Berlin before randomly attacking people with a knife.
A 31-year-old Polish woman was killed, while more than 30 other people were injured in the July 25 incident, according to authorities.
Police identified the suspect as 21-year-old Abdul Rahman Ballout, a Germany-born male with Lebanese roots. He was killed during a confrontation with law enforcers a day after the attack.
Investigators said they have found a video of Ballout pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group.
In 2025, the man reportedly travelled to Lebanon in a failed attempt to fight for the extremist militant group.
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‘Now more than ever’
Speaking with RTL Television, Hamburg’s deputy mayor, Katharina Fegebank, acknowledged the lingering fear among locals after the Berlin attack, noting, however, that the incident has made support for the LGBTQAI+ more vital.
“After the brutal attack on the CSD in Berlin, many are unsure in the queer community but also in society whether here and today is the right place,” Fegebank said, as quoted by Los Angeles Times. “I say, now more than ever.”
For CSD organiser Manuel Opitz, while the “grief” from the July 25 attack was evident in Hamburg’s pride march, “you can see that there’s still joy.”
“I think we carry the grief in our hearts – and Berlin in our hearts, too – but we’re bringing our pride out onto the streets, and you can see that,” Opitz said.
Hundreds of thousands
Both march organisers and police have put the number of attendees in Hamburg pride march at 300,000, according to DPA news agency.
Last year, approximately 260,000 people took part in the similar CSD event.
Saturday’s crowd influx came about along with heightened security measures for the annual parade.
Hamburg police chief Falk Schnabel said earlier that roughly twice as many officers as last year would protect the event.
