Large-scale Pride parades in Germany and the Netherlands drew hundreds of thousands of people
In Hamburg and Amsterdam, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to participate in Pride events. These mass demonstrations took place just one week after the terrorist attack in Berlin, when a car plowed into a crowd of Pride participants.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Hamburg for a demonstration marking Christopher Street Day (CSD). They assembled near the “Lübecker Straße” subway station and began marching through the St. Georg district toward the city center. Sixty trucks served as mobile stages for businesses, organizations, political parties, and the Protestant Church. The event’s motto was: “Solidarity with the queer community. We stand for a future without fear!"
In the afternoon, organizers from the “Hamburg Pride” association and the police agreed that 300,000 people had participated in the event—according to the organizers, a record number. The atmosphere was peaceful and joyful, a spokesperson reported after the march began. There were no incidents.
A week after the deadly attack on a similar event in Berlin, the Hamburg police revised their security plan for the event, deploying twice as many police officers as during last year’s demonstration.
On Saturday, Amsterdam is also hosting the traditional “Parade on the Canals” featuring 80 colorfully decorated boats—one of the main events of this year’s World Pride. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten urged young members of the LGBT community attending the event to openly declare their sexual orientation and identity.
“Coming out isn’t easy, but once you take that step, things will only get better,” said Jetten. Jetten, 39, is the Netherlands’ youngest prime minister and its first openly gay one.
The Amsterdam Pride Parade is a wonderful celebration full of freedom and fun, Jetten noted. At the same time, it’s important to protest against hostility. “We saw this with the attack in Berlin last week,” Jetten said.
The multi-day “World Pride” is considered the largest event for the global LGBT community and is being held in the Netherlands for the first time. Organizers expected about 500,000 visitors for the Amsterdam boat parade alone. Parades were also planned in the British seaside resort of Brighton and in other cities.
This was reported by Spiegel.
As a reminder, half of Germans no longer consider their country safe.
Water levels in the Rhine in western Germany have dropped to a historic low. In Cologne, the water gauge recorded just 68 centimeters—one centimeter lower than the previous record low set in 2018. The low water levels are already drawing the attention of the shipping industry, as the Rhine is one of the main routes for freight transport in Europe.
