Two apparent homophobic attacks were reported in Germany's capital Berlin on Saturday after around 3,50,000 people participated in a pride parade.
Following Berlin's annual pro-LGBTQ Christopher Street Day celebrations, police said that two attacks were reported. One attack involved three teenage victims and the second involved a 32-year-old man.
In one incident, two girls aged 16 and 17 and a 15-year-old boy were confronted by a group of nine people in Berlin's Mitte neighbourhood on Saturday evening. The group approached the two girls and made anti-gay remarks to the two girls, police said, presumably because of their clothing.
When the 16-year-old girl answered, one man in the group knocked her hat off her head and tripped her, causing her to fall to the ground. When she stood, the same man punched her in the face and fled. The girl suffered light injuries, including a wound on her lip, but declined help from emergency services.
In the second incident, a group of eight people insulted a 32-year-old man in central Berlin at around 3:15 am Sunday. As he ran away, they caught up to him and physically attacked him, kicking his head and upper body while he lay on the ground.
A woman passing by saw the attack and stood in front of the victim, at which point the attackers fled. The man sustained cuts and bruises and was treated on an outpatient basis.
The incidents came at the end of a day in which hundreds of thousands came out to support LGBTQ rights around Berlin. Final police estimates put the overall crowd size at 350,000, after revising its initial estimate of 150,000.
The parade itself was peaceful, police said.
Saturday was the first time Berlin's annual celebration had taken place largely without restrictions since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was cancelled in 2020 and was significantly smaller last year due to pandemic-related rules.
The parade is called the Christopher Street Day celebrations in honour of the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 that began at New York's Christopher Street. The Uprising led to the first pride parade and the obervance of June as the Pride Month.
(With AP inputs)
