New details emerging from the investigation into Saturday’s terrorist attack in Berlin suggest the German authorities failed to prevent the massacre despite numerous warning signs and weeks of monitoring the attacker.
It has now emerged that the Islamist extremist who carried out Saturday’s deadly attack on Berlin’s Christopher Street Day (CSD) celebrations was being monitored by police until just an hour before the assault, but that surveillance footage was not watched in real time.
According to a joint investigation by German media organisations, a hidden camera installed outside the home of 21-year-old German-Lebanese Islamist Abdul Ballout recorded him leaving his apartment in Berlin-Schöneberg at 8:58 p.m. on Saturday.
Roughly an hour later, Ballout drove a van into crowds celebrating Pride near the Brandenburg Gate before attacking revellers with knives and a machete. One woman was killed and 29 others were injured, several of them critically.
Ballout fled the scene but was tracked down by police on Sunday in Berlin’s Spandau district. Officers shot him dead after he attacked them.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has described the assault as an Islamist terrorist attack.
The newly revealed surveillance details have prompted criticism of the authorities’ handling of a suspect they had already classified as posing a high risk.
Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) had identified Ballout as a high-risk individual weeks before the attack. His telephone and social media accounts were monitored, he was placed under observation, and a hidden camera was installed outside his home.
However, security officials reportedly reviewed footage from the camera only once every 24 hours, meaning nobody was watching as Ballout left for the attack. Sources quoted by Der Spiegel said the images did not reveal any obvious indication that he was about to carry out an assault, as no weapons were visible.
Ballout had been convicted in May of preparing a serious act of violence after attempting to travel to Syria via Lebanon to join the Islamic State terror group. Despite receiving a sentence of one year and ten months, the court suspended the prison term and released him on probation after accepting that he had distanced himself from extremist ideology.
Investigators also searched Ballout’s home earlier this month after identifying a suspicious object, but found only a toy replica. Authorities have not yet determined what prompted him to launch the attack despite months of monitoring.
The case has reignited debate over the failures of Germany’s handling of Islamist extremism.
The country’s domestic intelligence service identified 28,645 Islamists in 2025, including around 9,110 considered prone to violence and approximately 450 assessed as capable of carrying out terrorist attacks.
The opposition Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has called for the immediate deportation of foreign nationals classified as security threats, the revocation of German citizenship from dual nationals deemed dangerous, and the preventive detention of German nationals considered high-risk individuals.
AfD MP Gottfried Curio said there are currently hundreds of people in Germany walking the streets as “ticking time bombs.”
