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Cologne: Participants in the bicycle rally cycle through the city
Photo: Roberto Pfeil / dpa
Equipped with rainbow flags and posters, around 2000 participants in a bicycle demonstration demonstrated against the exclusion of lesbians and gays in Cologne on Sunday.
After a rally through the city, the cycling demonstrators had gathered in a square on the Rhine for a rally.
In the corona pandemic, this was an alternative program to the fancy traditional Christopher Street Day (CSD) parade in July.
The major event had been canceled, hygiene rules and alcohol prohibition applied to the bike demo.
Hugo Winkels, chairman of Cologne Pride, said he was very touched by the important sign of the participants.
Compared to the huge, colorful CSD parade, the demo is small, "but we're going back to the roots".
Especially in difficult times, right thought can be felt.
"It is very important that we set an example so that the rights that have been won are not endangered," said Winkels.
The CSD parades with tens of thousands of participants each summer commemorate events in New York in 1969. At that time, visitors to the "Stonewall Inn" bar on Christopher Street in Manhattan resisted arbitrary controls and harassment.
The riots that followed are considered an important milestone in the LGBTIQ movement.
LGBTIQ stands for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans *, intersexual and queer people.
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wit / dpa / AFP
