• A car plowed into a crowd at Berlin's Christopher Street Day event, resulting in one death and 29 injuries, with the suspect being shot dead by police after a day-long manhunt.
• The Left party in Berlin faced criticism for initially not acknowledging investigators' suspicion that the attack was Islamist-motivated, with CDU candidate Stefan Evers accusing the party of "denying reality" regarding Islamism.
• The Green Party and SPD criticized the CDU for politicizing the attack, while also condemning The Left party for failing to explicitly name Islamist violence and its impact on society.

The leading candidate for Germany's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin's upcoming state election accused The Left party on Monday of "denying reality" regarding Islamism following its response to a suspected terrorist attack on the city's Pride events.

CDU candidate Stefan Evers' criticism followed an Instagram post by a Berlin district branch of the hard-left party that initially did not refer to investigators' suspicion that Saturday's attack was Islamist-motivated.

One woman was killed and 29 other people injured on the fringes of Berlin Pride when a man reportedly drove into a crowd with a van and attacked passers-by with a machete before fleeing, leading to a day-long manhunt that ended with him being shot dead by police on Sunday evening.

The 21-year-old, Berlin-born suspect, was known to police and was believed to have been part of the Islamist scene.

In a social media post published after the attack, The Left's Neukölln district branch blamed the rise of right-wing and anti-feminist forces for increasing hostility towards LGBT people and argued that such rhetoric paved the way for attacks.

Speaking to broadcaster Welt TV, Evers said: "Denying reality when dealing with political Islam and Islamism is part of the problem with this Left Party." He also accused the party of tolerating anti-Semitism and hostility towards police officers, adding: "I do not want to see this party in government in Berlin. I will do everything I can to prevent that."

Evers said The Left party had failed to recognize the scale of the problem and lacked the courage to describe it openly.

The Left clarifies statement

Following criticism, the party added a clarification on Monday, saying its reference to right-wing and anti-feminist forces evidently included Islamic State and other Islamist extremist groups.

It condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms" and said it stood "unequivocally alongside queer people."

Green Party and SPD chime in

Meanwhile, the Green Party's lead candidate in the state election, Werner Graf, called Evers' comments "undignified," accusing the CDU politician of turning the attack into an election issue rather than focusing on solidarity with victims and presenting a united response against terrorism.

"I am disappointed that it has taken just one and a half days for the CDU, under Stefan Evers, to switch into election campaign mode," he said.

The centre-left Social Democratic Party meanwhile criticized The Left's post, saying Islamist violence must be named.

"Islamist terror kills and injures. It is once again tearing a deep wound in our city and seeks to destroy our free society," said Steffan Krach, the party's lead candidate in the Berlin elections. "If The Left in Neukölln refuses to say this, it is trivializing Islamist terror and turning a blind eye to a deadly aspect of the violence against queer people."

Janine Wolter, the SPD candidate for the office of Neukölln district mayor said The Left party post had left her "speechless."

"Any form of extremism, whether political or religious, that threatens our open, pluralistic and democratic society must be consistently combated. This is only possible if the motives behind such acts are identified and taken seriously," she said.

Berlin state elections are scheduled for mid-September. Observers say Saturday's attack could boost support for the hard-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.