Status: 06.08.2022 4:49 p.m
According to the organizers, around 250,000 people took to the streets at the Christopher Street Day (CSD) demo in Hamburg. The police did not provide any information on the participation in the afternoon before the end of the rally.
Thousands parade through the city center past Hamburg Central Station during the CSD on Saturday.
“We are super satisfied and indescribably happy,” said the spokesman for the organizing association Hamburg Pride, Manuel Opitz. The need of the people to take to the streets again and to campaign loudly for diversity, tolerance and acceptance was huge. For the organizers, the CSD in Hamburg was a powerful sign “that we do not accept the increasing violence against queer people and that we do not allow ourselves to be intimidated,” said Nicole Schaening and Christoph Kahrmann from the Hamburg Pride association, who called for the demo .
Tschentscher: “It’s great that a CSD demo is taking place again”
According to the association, 82 groups were registered for the demonstration, more than ever before. Around 30 were on the road with trucks. The demonstration marched through downtown Hamburg for several hours. Hamburg’s Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) was also among the participants: “It’s great that another CSD demonstration for freedom and tolerance is taking place in Hamburg,” he said after the train started in St. Georg. The second mayor, Katharina Fegebank, was also there. “It’s a great feeling,” said the Green politician. It is a wonderful image that Hamburg will send to Germany and the world.
The demo led through the city center to Jungfernstieg. The street festival for the CSD in Hamburg will take place there until Sunday evening.
AUDIO: Interview with organizer Manuel Opitz about the CSD in Hamburg (3 min)
CSD street festival until Sunday
The CSD street festival has been taking place on Jungfernstieg and Ballindamm since Friday. Both roads have been closed since Thursday. The street festival ends at 10 p.m. on Sunday. Both roads are expected to be closed by 6 a.m. Monday.
According to the organizers, the groups registered include numerous LGBTIQ+ initiatives, including the Hamburg lesbian network and Queer Refugees Support Hamburg, associations and political parties.
against increasing violence
The CSD motto this year is “On the streets! Diversity instead of violence”. It refers to the growing violence against queer people. Nationwide, more than 1,000 hate crimes against people in the queer community were reported to the police in 2021, and in Hamburg there were 67 crimes, more than twice as many as in the previous year, according to the Hamburg Pride association.
Since 1980, people in Hamburg have been taking to the streets to celebrate CSD
Christopher Street Day commemorates June 28, 1969, when police stormed the Stonewall Inn, a New York gay and lesbian bar on Christopher Street, sparking multi-day protests by gay, lesbian, and transgender people. The CSD aims to draw attention to the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, intersex and queer people. Every year since 1980, people have taken to the streets in Hamburg to campaign for the acceptance and equality of all sexualities and gender identities.
Further information
