According to an initial estimate by the police, around 130 people followed the call by the group “Parents stand up” to protest in the style of a carnival procession. The event had already attracted criticism in advance. The group has been walking through Würzburg for several months. But on Rose Monday they had obviously planned to disguise their demonstration as a carnival procession. That was not only a thorn in the side of the city of Würzburg.
According to the city, the organizers had to take back various “rally funds”. The city pronounced a ban on motif wagons and forbade “carnival or Schunkel music”. “Unfortunately, it was not possible to forbid the participants to dress up in costumes,” it said in advance.
Loud music despite the ban on “Schunkelmusik”
According to the announcement, the majority of the participants came to the demonstration in costumes. For the most part, however, they adhered to the mask requirement. Instead of a motif wagon, however, the group showed a decorated trailer pulled by a car. Loud music also played.
Sebastian Hansen, a direct candidate for the Bundestag election for the Greens in the Würzburg constituency, was irritated by this on the sidelines of the demonstration: “If I now see that carnival-style music is supposed to be banned and the party music is constantly playing here, then I find that a bit problematic that there is no right action taken. ” Christian Weiß, press spokesman for the city of Würzburg, said when asked that it was “difficult to ban it”. For example, a hit song was repositioned on the subject of “Corona” by the participants.
The city had announced that the demonstration should not be a reminder of “a carnival parade or a traditional carnival as a custom”. Christian Weiß said: “We did our best to do it.”
Counter protests around the demonstration route
Meanwhile, there were repeated counter-protests around the demonstration. At the Würzburg Congress Center, around ten people temporarily blocked the road. According to the police, there was also a brief blockade on the Old Main Bridge. This was dissolved by the police. Andy Laacke from the Lower Franconia Police Headquarters said it was still “fundamentally peaceful”.
Counter-rallies at the four-tube fountain are prohibited
A planned counter rally at the four-tube fountain did not take place as planned. The “Antifa Würzburg” had called on the short message service Twitter. According to the city, 100 participants were registered – from the point of view of the city in pandemic times that were too many on the area. According to spokesman Weiß, the counter rally could have taken place in Würzburg Eichhornstrasse, a few hundred meters further. Shortly after 3:30 p.m., at the planned start at the Vierröhrenbrunnen, there were no demonstrators in Eichhornstrasse. The applicants for the counter rally took action against the ban at the Würzburg Administrative Court. However, the court upheld the previous decision, said Weiß.
Sharp criticism from Lord Mayor Schuchardt
The demonstration of “parents stand up” had already provoked sharp criticism in advance, including from Würzburg’s mayor Christian Schuchardt (CDU). “All fools of our carnival clubs and guilds are forced to forego their carnival parades during the pandemic,” said Schuchardt. “I therefore consider the attempt by the” parents stand up “group to take over our traditional carnival parade to be excessive.” The Würzburg carnival parade is one of the largest in southern Germany, with around 70,000 people coming to the wayside last year.
The group “Parents Stand Up” takes part in their rallies against the state measures to contain the corona pandemic. Research by the “Main-Post” recently revealed that conspiracy stories or revenge fantasies against Prime Minister Markus Söder were spread in a telegram chat of the group.
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