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Storm prompts German cities to scrap Carnival parades Hundreds of thousands celebrate Carnival in Cologne
(about 9 hours later)
BERLIN — Duesseldorf and Essen have joined several other German cities in calling off their main Carnival processions because of a forecast storm. COLOGNE, Germany — Hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets of Cologne for its annual Rose Monday parade, the culmination of five days of Carnival festivities that took place amid heightened security following robberies and sexual assaults in the city on New Year’s Eve.
Strong winds are expected across a swathe of western Germany on Monday — including the Rhineland, the heartland of Germany’s annual street Carnivals. Police doubled the number of officers they had on hand this year in an effort to reassure the public in the wake of the Dec. 31 attacks primarily targeting women and blamed largely on foreigners.
The head of the Duesseldorf Carnival committee, Michael Laumen, told ARD television that organizers decided gale warnings made it “simply too dangerous” to go ahead with the annual Rose Monday parade. However, they plan to stage it later in the year. Through Monday morning, police said they had recorded 542 criminal complaints, including 45 allegations of sexual offenses, including rape. Those numbers were roughly in line with 2015, when police said there were 50 sexual offenses reported through the full five-day Carnival.
Carnival organizers in Mainz, Muenster, Duisburg and elsewhere called off their parades on Sunday. The Rose Monday parade almost didn’t happen at all amid severe weather warnings, but the city decided to go ahead while banning horses, large puppets and flags for safety reasons.
Cologne plans to go ahead with its parade but has banned horses, large puppets and flags from the event for safety reasons. With strong winds predicted over a large swathe of western Germany, other cities, including Duesseldorf and Essen, called off their main Carnival processions entirely.
The migrant crisis was reflected in Monday’s Carnival floats, keeping in the tradition of topical themes.
One featured a caricature in Merkel standing in front of her signature quote of recent months, “We will manage it,” and the words “tough nuts.” At her side was a basket of nuts labeled “refugees.”
Another featured a pensive, seated Merkel with an EU flag in her hand and the slogan “Merkelancholia.”
And, reflecting concern over far-right violence, one float depicted a neo-Nazi as an octopus wrapping its tentacles around democracy.
The figure of Syrian President Bashar Assad as an angel of peace also wound its way through the city, joined on its float by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Other stories of recent months also played their part. There was a float showing Merkel haunted by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras bearing a lightning rod, a reference to last year’s showdown over Greece’s new bailout, and one with suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter clutching banknotes.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.