Dhe police are already here. They have positioned themselves at the corner of Innere Kanalstrasse and Venloer Strasse, opposite the entrance to the green belt, where the autumn leaves, arranged as arranged, shine. On the other side of Venloer Strasse, dozens of visitors are streaming up the stairs to the mosque. This is where the muezzin is supposed to call to prayer on Friday, in the middle of Cologne, in the central mosque. The police officers look over here from time to time, but they are mainly concerned with this side of Venloer Strasse, because a demonstration is taking place here. Maybe 20 people came with signs: “Women, life, freedom”, “No muezzin call in Cologne”.
Suddenly, some demonstrators move, waving a picture with Mahsa Amini. “A nude performance is about to start here,” says someone in a stretched Kölsch beer, and sure enough, some people take off their jackets. The women have painted their upper bodies in the colors of Iran. Fired up by the rushing cameramen, a shirtless protester starts screaming, “Open your eyes. Islam is against all women!” She screams and gives a long lecture, stares angrily at the cameras, tears come to her eyes, and a friend comforts her. “We are here today in support of the women in Iran,” says another woman in a soothing voice. Then they join in their battle cry: “Get away, mullah has to go.”
A man on the curb echoes her mantra: “Away, away, away!” Said lived in Iran for 43 years, he says, before he was able to flee to Canada. As a student, he spent several years in prison for reading the wrong newspaper. “I know what it’s like when Islam rules,” he says. “It may be another ten years before they want you to wear a headscarf again,” he says, pointing to the reporter’s hair. Said was born as the son of two Muslims, what does that mean for him? “Today I can say that I am no longer a Muslim,” he says, looking seriously through his narrow-frame glasses. He couldn’t do that in Iran, too dangerous. He has been living in Cologne for six years, speaks German well and still asks that his sentences be “made nice”. But it’s not necessary.
“An intervention in our everyday life”
For weeks Sahid has been demonstrating with the women, almost all of whom come from Iran, for the people in his former homeland. “Introducing Mina, she knows a lot more than I do,” he says. Mina Ahadi is a friendly woman with gray streaks in her black hair and is the chairwoman of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims. “I organized this demonstration because a muezzin call in Germany is a scandal,” she says. “This is an intervention in our everyday life.” Church bells also disturb them.
“But what is even more important: We are dealing here with a political Islam. This is an aggressive move. In Iran they want to kill us – and German politics is joining in.” Mina Ahadi speaks a little louder now because the loud, shirtless demonstrator is now screaming and sobbing. Some keep the camera on.