The colorful parade with about a hundred floats through Cologne’s city center attracted around 60,000 registered participants and hundreds of thousands of onlookers. The organizing Cologne Pride spoke of a demonstration that stood up “peacefully but loudly for the rights and concerns of the queer community.” The motto was “For queer rights – Many. Together. Strong!”
Police reported no incidents by the afternoon. Cologne’s CSD is one of the largest of its kind in Germany and Europe. Several politicians also took part, including former Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) and Green Party politician Claudia Roth. NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) participated for the first time and told dpa: “We increasingly have people who claim the right to dictate how others must live. And that is a mistake.”
Claudia Roth emphasized that the demonstration sends a signal of democracy to Erfurt, to the enemies of democracy, where the AfD party congress was taking place at the same time. Karl Lauterbach warned that the rights of queer people are increasingly under pressure: “If rights are abolished and the people affected are not visible, then we will go under.” The CSD commemorates the events at the Stonewall Inn in New York in 1969.
Source: www.spiegel.de
