47th Berlin Pride Parade started

The Christopher Street Day (CSD) demonstration will take place in Berlin this Saturday – without the rainbow flag at the Bundestag , as has been customary in previous years, but with tens of thousands of people on the streets. Organizers expect several hundred thousand people to join the parade . It will move with 80 floats and around 100 walking groups from Mitte via Schöneberg to the Victory Column in the Tiergarten district. A closing rally and a stage program at the Brandenburg Gate are planned for the afternoon.

"Hello, circus!"

The rally commemorates June 28, 1969, when police stormed the Stonewall Inn gay bar on New York's Christopher Street, sparking days of clashes between activists and security forces. The uprising is considered the birth of the modern gay and lesbian movement.

The demonstrators' signs and speeches at the opening addressed the political debate surrounding the raising of the rainbow flag on the Reichstag building, the seat of the Bundestag. Amid cheers, Bundestag Vice President Omid Nouripour (Green Party) greeted the participants with the words "Hello, circus!" – apparently in reference to Chancellor Friedrich Merz .

He had defended the decision of Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (bothCDU ) not to hoist a rainbow flag on the Reichstag building for the Pride parade, saying: "The Bundestag is not a circus tent." Bundesrat President Anke Rehlinger ( SPD ) decided against hoisting the rainbow flag on the state representation building on Leipziger Straße.

Counter-demonstration from the right-wing spectrum

Unlike in previous years, the Bundestag administration's queer rainbow network will not be participating in the Pride parade this year. The administration's leadership had prohibited the group from participating. In protest against this decision, some participants carried signs reading: "Unfortunately, we are not participating - the Bundestag administration's rainbow network would have marched here."

According to police, 30 to 50 people gathered at a counter-demonstration – self-described as "against Pride Day terror." There were banners from the group "Deutsche Jugend Voran," which the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies as right-wing extremist and violence-oriented. Police secured the demonstration with riot police and barriers. Officers arrested six people beforehand and initiated proceedings for offenses including insults, the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations, and violations of the Explosives Act.

Anti-queer crimes have been increasing for years

The motto of this year's Pride in Berlin is "Never be silent again." The demonstrations are for the rights of gays, lesbians, transsexuals, transgender people, and intersexual and bisexual people, among others. Organizers had warned in advance of a serious and tense situation. According to authorities, homophobic crimes have been on the rise for years.

According to a situation report published by the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Ministry of the Interior at the end of last year, the number of crimes in the area of "sexual orientation" and "gender diversity" has increased almost tenfold since 2010. This is also due to increasing visibility and willingness to report crimes – at the same time, a high number of unreported cases is assumed, it was stated.

pg/jj (dpa, afp, epd)