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Symbolic image of a rainbow flag: In the future, it will no longer be allowed to fly in front of Neubrandenburg train station.
Source: Wolfgang Kumm/dpa
The case has made headlines across the country: the rainbow flag will no longer be allowed to be flown at Neubrandenburg train station in the future. This was decided by the city council of the third largest city in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. 15 MPs voted for the flag ban, eleven against and eight abstained. Among the yes votes: All representatives of the AfD and three from the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) faction. The BSW forms a faction with the “Citizens for Neubrandenburg”, a splinter from the CDU.
The numbers were confirmed to ZDFheute from two different sources. Even if other BSW representatives abstained: It is a collaboration between AfD and BSW at the local level.
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Applicant criticized: “Flag is sexualized”
The application was submitted by non-attached member Tim Großmüller. He criticizes the fact that the rainbow flag is used “to sexualize a lot of things.” During Christopher Street Day in the region, people with masks would be seen on the streets as early as 1 p.m., some of them showing their private parts. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) wore a rainbow armband at the last World Cup , he calls a joke. “That gets on my nerves,” said Großmüller. But he is not homophobic or right-wing extremist; for example, he is married to a Lebanese woman. He tells ZDFheute about his motion against hoisting the rainbow flag:
I have no problem with the fact that the AfD and BSW agreed to this proposal together.
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Tim Großmüller, councilor Neubrandenburg
30 percent of Neubrandenburgers recently voted for the AfD, the party is “democratically legitimate” and a “democratic partner”. He really appreciates BSW boss Sahra Wagenknecht. She speaks to a lot of things that resonate in the East. “I’m an absolute fan of hers.”
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Wagenknecht: Flag shouldn’t hang forever
Wagenknecht indicates that she finds the Neubrandenburg decision entirely justifiable. The BSW has nothing against the rainbow flag, she tells ZDFheute. However, the flag was raised in the summer for the occasion, for the local CSD:
Of course, there is no immediate reason for a flag to hang there forever.
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Sahra Wagenknecht, BSW
A spokesman for the city of Neubrandenburg contradicts this. On the occasion of the CSD, the rainbow flag was hoisted in front of the town hall. The flag in front of the train station should have flown there permanently.
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BSW: Collaboration with AfD ruled out?
Wagenknecht points out that the rainbow flag in Neubrandenburg has been “repeatedly taken down, especially by the right.” Instead, it was replaced “by some kind of imperial war flag.”
However, the Neubrandenburg decision is still not a collaboration with the AfD. Firstly, the application was submitted by a non-party.
And the second thing is that we have also said very clearly here in the Bundestag that we are looking at the proposal. We have already voted for proposals from the CDU.
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Sahra Wagenknecht, BSW
However, she cannot “discuss every decision that is made in a local council beforehand in the presidium”.
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Queer representative criticizes Wagenknecht
In Neubrandenburg they assess the situation differently. The votes from the BSW parliamentary group were decisive for the flag ban, says Marcel Knittel, chairman of the Queer NB association. If so many representatives of the BSW parliamentary group had not abstained and instead voted against the motion, it would not have received a majority.
He is disappointed with Wagenknecht himself, but not surprised. After all, the BSW had already spoken out against the rainbow flag in front of the train station in the last local election campaign:
The party that bears Wagenknecht’s name is not concerned with protecting minorities.
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Marcel Spittel, Queer NB
Queer NB has called for a demonstration for queer visibility in Neubrandenburg this Thursday.
Over for the rainbow flag?
:Neubrandenburg: Mayor resigns
For others it is a symbol of diversity, but for the people of Neubrandenburg it is apparently a nuisance: the rainbow flag will no longer be flown in front of the train station and the mayor is resigning.
