Germany's Pride Parade Put on Alert for Far-Right Attacks

The organisers of the Christopher Street Day parade in Berlin have urged participants to be vigilant amid a rise in attacks on LGBTQ+ events across Germany.

- Kate Connolly

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take to the streets of the German capital this weekend for a loud and colourful celebration held in memory of the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York, Christopher Street being the location of the Stonewall Inn. But behind the party atmosphere there is a more sombre mood than usual as LGBTQ+ organisations warn that attacks have become more frequent.

"It has been said in recent years that Christopher Street Day had become too big, too commercialised, too apolitical," said one of the organisers, Thomas Hoffmann. "But now it's time for us to be louder than ever and for people to come out in large numbers when we're losing rights for which we have fought for decades."

At stake, he said, was nothing less than societal tolerance across the board, which was being tested "first and foremost on us as we're most visible".