2024-08-17 23:55:39
The techno parade “Rave the Planet” began this afternoon on the streets of Berlin, with the procession led by DJ Dr. Mote – one of the founders of the protest parties known as “Parades of Love”, DPA reported.
Police expect the number of participants in the parade to reach 300,000.
The organizers of “Rave the Planet” define the event as a demonstration for peace, love and protection of electronic music culture.
In 1989, Dr. Mote, whose real name is Matthias Roingh, helped create the Love Parade, which became a major annual techno music festival until 2010, when the event was marred by tragedy – 21 people died in a stampede caused by sudden panic.
Dr. Mote is organizing the first Rave the Planet parade in 2022. Today, he told partygoers that love is stronger than hate and violence.
German Culture Minister Claudia Roth sent an audio message to the crowd, saying that “techno is not just noise” and that it is a fundamental part of Berlin’s culture. “The rave knows no origin, no gender, no social status,” noted the minister.
The organizers of “Rave the Planet” announced that the party will include about 300 musicians who will entertain people from 30 parade platforms. The police have deployed nearly 1,000 uniformed officers to ensure order and people’s safety.
Meanwhile, in Leipzig, the largest city in the state of Saxony, neo-Nazis gathered to protest the gay parade held there. A week earlier, far-right activists demonstrated against a similar event in Bautzen, in the eastern part of the same province.
The local police reported that there were several violations of public order.
The neo-Nazis numbered between 300 and 400 and gathered at Leipzig Central Station. After “another conversation” with the organizers, the demonstration was stopped shortly after it began. The participants in the far-right protest remained at the railway station so that the police could carry out “all criminal-procedural actions”.
According to the police, several thousand participants in the gay parade gathered in the central Leipzig square “Augustusplatz”, writes BTA.