CSD in Görlitz and Zgorzelec: 700 people celebrate diversity

Around 700 people celebrated Christopher Street Day in Görlitz and Zgorzelec on Saturday. The CSD participants followed a colorful train from the train station through the city, across the border to Poland and back to Görlitz. The final stop was Elisabethplatz, where there was a rally and a festival in the afternoon. At the CSD, people on both sides of the border are demanding equal rights and a safe life for all queer people.

Saxony’s Economics Minister Martin Dulig (SPD) was also among the speakers. “We stand here for our normality, for the normality of being able to live and love as we want,” he said. This normality has now become a “political task” again because it has changed somewhat in Germany and especially in Saxony: “There is intimidation again, violence is being used,” said the politician. This is intended to achieve a feeling of fear and threat “of central importance that want to dictate to us how we should live.”

Görlitz’s cultural mayor Benedikt Hummel (CDU) and Rafał Gronicz, the mayor of Zgorzelec, also made a short appearance at the final rally. “Thank you very much for the invitation and the opportunity to be here today and see this great, happy, colorful Görlitz,” said Hummel. And Gronicz (Civic Platform) said to the participants: “I am happy that you have the strength, courage and will to show that the world can be colorful and friendly.”

The well-known former WDR journalist and trans woman Georgine Kellermann also took part in the demonstration. “The CSD in Görlitz is one of the most important in the republic because it connects two countries, two cities, two cultures,” said Kellermann MDR SACHSEN. “I hope that the people who see us notice that their mood is definitely better than the others,” she said, referring to the counter-protests.

André Markov from Görlitz took part in the demo together with his husband. It’s great to see “how many people are taking to the streets here for diversity,” he said. He has been living in Görlitz for three years and due to election results and right-wing Monday demonstrations, he has already thought about moving away. But through the CSD he now feels confirmed that “so many people have different opinions and I no longer have to toy with the idea,” he said.

“Everyone has the right to love whoever they want,” said another participant, Chiara Schellinger from Görlitz. “It’s a really great atmosphere here and everyone just wants to have fun.”

Because of the counter-demonstration and feared disruptions, the police were on site with numerous emergency services from the Görlitz police department as well as the riot police and federal police. On social networks, German and Polish right-wing extremists called for people to disrupt the CSD.

In Zgorzelec, Poland, few protesters showed up for a counter-rally. The police ensure that the two groups are separated. On the German side, significantly more people took part in counter-protests, according to the police around 460. A direct clash between the two gatherings was prevented. “The two elevators were sent on the route with a time delay. First the CSD and then the counter-protest,” explained a police spokesman.

However, both groups came very close at the end of the two demonstrations on the corner of Elisabethstrasse and Joliot-Curie-Strasse. Separated from the police forces, both camps faced each other for a long time and shouted slogans towards the other side. On the side of the CSD participants, rainbow flags were waved, on the side of the counter-demonstrators, Reich flags and flags of the Young Nationalists, the youth organization of the party “Die Heimat” (formerly NPD).

According to the Görlitz Police Department, there were no riots or physical altercations during the entire event. When the counter-demo arrived, the officers discovered seven violations of the assembly law, as well as two violations for the use of prohibited symbols on clothing and two counts of incitement to hatred.

According to their own statements, the police had to intervene several times at the counter-demonstration in Görlitz and record complaints, among other things because an anti-constitutional slogan was shouted. Accordingly, the officers initiated criminal proceedings for the use of license plates of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations as well as incitement to hatred. In addition, the officials found several violations of the conditions and the use of an unconstitutional gesture. The identities of those affected were recorded. The police will be present in the city in the evening for the CSD after-show party.