The fear was palpable at Saturday’s Christopher Street Day parade in Berlin. The annual Pride event commemorates the 1969 Stonewall rebellion in New York City, when a spontaneous street uprising was triggered by a police raid on the Stonewall Inn gay bar on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village.

With 45 attacks reported in 18 months, a Berlin LGBTQ+ café meant to be a safe space has become the target of escalating hate crimes.View on euronews

Across Germany, violence against LGBTQ+ people is spiking, even in Berlin, a city long celebrated as a haven for queer folks. Last year, 12 of Germany’s 16 states saw a 40 per cent jump in attacks targeting the community, according to the Association of Counseling Centers for Victims of Right-Wing, Racist and Antisemitic Violence.

Attacks against LGBTQ+ people and gay-friendly establishments are rising across Germany, including in Berlin, a city that has historically embraced the community, members of which often use the word queer to describe themselves.