Law & Justice
Germany plans ankle monitors and preventive detention after deadly Berlin Pride attack
Germany’s government pledged on Monday to tighten security laws after a van and machete attack near Berlin’s Pride parade killed a 65-year-old Polish woman and wounded 29 other people.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told Bild that he planned measures including wider use of electronic ankle monitors and preventive detention for people classified as security threats.
He did not say when legislation could be introduced.
Dobrindt also called for changes to juvenile criminal law, which in Germany can apply to offences committed by defendants up to the age of 20.
He said applying juvenile law to adults who posed a security threat was unacceptable.
The attacker drove a rented minivan into a crowd near the LGBTQ event on Saturday, July 25, before slashing at people with a machete.
Police shot dead the suspected attacker, Abdul Ballout, 21, on Sunday evening in an allotment complex in Berlin’s western Spandau district after he approached officers with a bladed weapon.
Prosecutors said Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, had previous convictions for bodily harm, extortion and robbery and had tried to join the Islamic State group in Syria.
A Lebanese judicial source told AFP that Ballout was detained in Lebanon last year during a failed attempt to fight for Islamic State in Syria.
He was sentenced there to three months in prison for belonging to the group.
After returning to Germany, Ballout was detained and convicted in May of planning a serious act of subversive violence.
He received a sentence of one year and 10 months, but it was suspended partly because of time he had already spent in detention and because he admitted the crimes and said he had distanced himself from Islamic State.
Rolf Tophoven of the Institute for Terrorism Research and Security Policy said authorities had underestimated the danger Ballout posed.
He said prosecutors had appealed against the suspended sentence and that Ballout was supposed to attend a deradicalisation programme.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it was too early to determine all the political consequences of the attack but that Germany needed to go beyond announcements.
He said authorities would have to explain how a man with Ballout’s profile had been able to approach the parade unhindered.
The attack came two months before Berliners are due to elect a new city-state assembly.
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany, accused Merz on X of failing to act sufficiently against what she called “migrant violence”.
Update
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced plans to toughen laws, including increased use of electronic ankle monitors and preventive detention for people classified as security threats.
Dobrindt called for reform of juvenile criminal law for adults posing security threats.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany would have to go beyond announcements after the attack.
Berlin integration commissioner Guner Balci called for the closure of the most radical mosques.
Source note: AFP news report published on 27 July 2026 at 15:46:12 UTC.
Update
German politicians, security experts and a police union criticised authorities for failing to prevent the attack and questioned why Abdul Ballout was free and not under close surveillance.
Prosecutors said Ballout had previous convictions for causing bodily harm, extortion and robbery and had tried to join the Islamic State group in Syria.
A Lebanese judicial source told AFP that Ballout was sentenced to three months in jail in Lebanon for belonging to Islamic State.
Ballout was convicted in Germany in May of planning a serious act of subversive violence and given a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany would have to answer how a man with Ballout's profile could get close to the parade unhindered.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel accused Merz of insufficient action against migrant violence.
Source note: AFP news report published on 27 July 2026 at 15:05:31 UTC.
Update
German daily Bild reported that the victim was a 65-year-old woman from Warsaw who had travelled to Berlin with her daughter.
Bild reported that the victim’s daughter survived the attack.
The item states that 29 other people were wounded, many seriously.
Police shot dead the presumed perpetrator, Abdul Ballout, on Sunday after he approached them with a bladed weapon.
Source note: AFP news report published on 27 July 2026 at 12:49:53 UTC.
Update
Poland’s foreign ministry in Warsaw identified the woman as a Polish citizen.
Ministry spokesperson Maciej Wewior made the statement on X.
Source note: AFP news report published on 27 July 2026 at 12:03:28 UTC.
Update
A ministry said the woman who died in the Berlin Pride festival attack was Polish.
Source note: AFP news report published on 27 July 2026 at 11:54:12 UTC.
Update
Friedrich Merz said none of the injured people in Berlin hospitals was still at risk of death.
Merz made the statement at a memorial service for victims at Berlin's Marienkirche church.
Source note: AFP news report published on 26 July 2026 at 15:46:21 UTC.
Update
Italy's Prime Minister Georgia Meloni condemned the deadly car-ramming attack near a Pride festival in Berlin.
Meloni said Italy opposed hate and extremism and stood with Germany and the German people.
The source said the vehicle hit people leaving a Pride festival on Saturday night, killing one person and injuring 16.
Source note: AFP news report published on 26 July 2026 at 10:42:19 UTC.
Update
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner was identified as the mayor making the statement.
Wegner said the city’s freedom had come under attack in what he called a horrific way.
The source says a car hit and killed one person and injured others near Berlin’s Gay Pride parade.
The incident happened late Saturday in Tiergarten park, near the end of the parade route.
Wegner made the comments in a post on X.
Source note: AFP news report published on 25 July 2026 at 22:44:54 UTC.
Uncertainty notes
Dobrindt did not say when the proposed security-law changes may be introduced.
Authorities and politicians are still questioning why Ballout was not under closer supervision before the attack.
Source
AFP news report published on .