After reports of several allegedly targeted assaults on gay men cruising in Berlin’s Volkspark Friedrichshain last year, there appears to have been another serious attack about two weeks ago aimed at men seeking anonymous sex there.
As first reported by the Tagesspiegel, the police confirmed the witness’s account in broad terms. On Friday, May 22, just before midnight, an emergency call came in about an injured person. The 45-year-old man was brought to a hospital by officers with facial injuries.
According to the police’s current assessment, the incident appears to be an attack apparently organized by a group of youths or young adults against visitors to the cruising area around the Spain Monument, with the police suspecting a queer-hostile motive. As is standard in such cases, the Police State Security is handling the ongoing investigations.
“Coordinated Attack” reported
Earlier, a random eyewitness contacted the Tagesspiegel, describing an “apparently coordinated attack” on men in the well-known cruising area around the monument to the German Interbrigadists.
Around 15 men, estimated to be between 16 and 22 years old, some equipped with flashlights and apparently coordinated, reportedly targeted cruisers, drove them from the bushes, and physically assaulted several people, according to the account that also appears in maneo’s materials. The police arrived only after the attackers had already disappeared.
Several assaults in 2025
The gay assault hotline Maneo, in its most recent annual report, documented 26 known attacks on cruisers in 2025, the same tally as the previous year. Maneo linked eleven of these cases to men lured into traps via dating portals. The reported acts included “humiliating mistreatment, humiliation, theft or robbery, with some incidents resulting in serious injuries.”
From Volkspark Friedrichshain, the Maneo report cites several incidents from last summer: On July 24, fireworks were thrown at cruisers. The following evening, cruisers were harassed by a group of about 10 to 15 young men and told to leave the park. On August 2, a gay cruiser was knocked to the ground and robbed, and on August 5, a cruiser was pursued and threatened by a group of roughly 10 to 20 young men: “The perpetrators stopped only when bystanders called the police,” Maneo states. On August 11, eight to ten young men blocked the park exits for several cruisers and attacked the men. All of these incidents occurred between 10 p.m. and midnight.
Libe Tagesspiegel reports that the police logged four attacks in August last year. The May 22, 2026 incident is thus the only known attack in a Berlin cruising area this year to date. The Friedrichshain area is under “increased surveillance,” a police spokesperson told Neues Deutschland. According to a Left party inquiry from last autumn, this includes staff training, intensified patrols and night-time patrols, and operations in the Volkspark aimed at “cruising and hate-crime education.” Maneo’s report notes that 2025 saw a total of 723 attacks on queer people and queer-friendly venues (TheColu.mn reported). The Berlin police recorded 587 cases with queer-phobic motivation, including 109 violent crimes. The city’s police and prosecutors maintain dedicated contacts for queer residents.
