Massive rainbow flag placed at Reichstag by activists ahead of Pride
The flag, organizers say, measures 400 square metres, nearly the size of a basketball court. They held a demonstration including speeches and music with numerous attendees waving rainbow flags.
The decision against hoisting the flag for the celebration of Christopher Street Day (CSD) as Pride is known in Germany, was made by Bundestag President Julia Klöckner. Chancellor Friedrich Merz defended the Bundestag's decision, saying, "The Bundestag is not a circus tent."
In a related protest, the Social Democrats (SPD), the junior partner in the conservative-led governing coalition, hoisted a flag in front of the Willy-Brandt-Haus, the party's headquarters in Berlin.
SPD General Secretary Tim Klüssendorf, along with Carola Ebhardt and Oliver Strotzer, the federal chairpersons of the SPDqueer working group, raised the Progressive Pride Flag for CSD.
The flag is an evolution of the classic rainbow flag, incorporating additional colours to represent trans people and queer people of colour.
The term Christopher Street Day is used in Germany to refer to Pride celebrations for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ+) communities.
It is a reference to the location of the Stonewall Inn in New York City's Greenwich Village neighbourhood, where a protest against police discrimination on June 28, 1969, kick-started the gay liberation movement.
Solve the daily Crossword
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Justin Kelly appointed new Garda commissioner
Justin Kelly will become the new Garda commissioner on September 1, Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan has announced. Mr Kelly will replace Drew Harris, who is to retire after seven years as commissioner. Mr Kelly is currently a deputy commissioner and has been appointed for five years. Mr O'Callaghan said: 'The role of Garda commissioner is one of the most challenging and impactful leadership positions in Ireland's public service and the appointment process was suitably rigorous. 'I am satisfied that Justin Kelly is both qualified and particularly well suited to the role of commissioner, given his extensive leadership experience over the last 30 years in some of the most challenging issues facing An Garda Siochana, including national security, domestic and sexual violence, and organised crime. 'I know Justin is fully committed to providing a high-visibility, highly trusted policing service to the public.' The selection process identified 14 candidates and included two interviews and a presentation. Mr Kelly was selected as the preferred candidate. Mr Harris will continue to lead the force until September, when he will retire after 41 years of service to policing across the island.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump hails Swinney as ‘terrific guy' at Aberdeenshire golf course opening
Donald Trump hailed John Swinney as a 'terrific guy' after a brief meeting with the First Minister ahead of the official opening of his new golf course in Aberdeenshire. The Scottish Government said the SNP leader and the US President discussed the situation in Gaza, and posed for photographs in front of a saltire and the Stars and Stripes. READ MORE Trump to open new golf course on final day in Scotland Trump hints at whisky deal as he talks of 'great love' for Scotland during visit Bagpipes, ballrooms and bluster: the day Trump came to Turnberry In a short speech before cutting the ribbon on the first tee, Mr Trump asked Mr Swinney to stand up. "The First Minister is here. John, would you stand up? John Swinney is a terrific guy who loves golf, loves the people of this country, and we really appreciated it. Thank you for everything, John." The pair had met on Monday night as part of a business dinner at the course, which was also attended by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. During the ceremony, Mr Trump also spoke about Sean Connery's support for his Menie course, saying the James Bond star's backing helped overcome planning issues. The President said: "This has been an unbelievable development. "The land, they said it couldn't get zoned, it was an impossibility. "And Sean Connery said, 'Let the bloody bloke build his golf course'. "Once he said that everything came into line. John and I were talking about that last night." (Image: Colin Mearns/NQ) Mr Trump was the first to tee off. He said he would have a quick game before returning to Washington to "put out fires all over the world". "We started with a beautiful piece of land, but we made it much more beautiful. "The area has really welcomed us. If you remember at the beginning there wasn't quite a welcome, but it wasn't bad. "But with time they liked us more and more, now they love us and we love them." Mr Trump added: "I look forward to playing it today. "We'll play it very quickly and then I go back to DC and we put out fires all over the world. "We did one yesterday – you know we stopped the war. We've stopped about five wars. "That's much more important than playing golf. As much as I like it, it's much more important." READ MORE Donald Trump responds to John Swinney's new plan for independence vote Train operator to extend London to Edinburgh services to Glasgow Cost of investigation into SNP finances soars to £2.7 million The President has played a number of rounds of golf during his Scottish trip, spending time at his other resort in Turnberry. He held a bilateral with Sir Keir at the South Ayrshire course on Monday, where he also held a lengthy press conference. There, the President spoke of his "great love" for Scotland and said he wanted to see the nation "thrive". He was asked about Mr Swinney's plan for a second vote on the constitution. The First Minister said on Monday that the precedent set by the [[SNP]]'s 2011 election victory, when they won an unprecedented majority in Holyrood, would break the "logjam". He said there should be a "legal referendum recognised by all" on Scottish independence if the [[SNP]] manages the same feat at next year's [[Holyrood]] election. "We demonstrated how we break the logjam in the past, by electing a majority of SNP MSPs in 2011, and that led to an independence referendum in 2014," he told reporters. He invited supporters of independence to back his party in the constituency vote and to "demand independence" in the regional vote. Asked about the First Minister's proposal, the President said he did not want to "get involved" in Britain's domestic politics. "We got enough politics of our own," he added. He also claimed he had correctly predicted the result of the 2014 referendum, and suggested there should be a sizeable gap between votes. He told journalists: "I do say that when they made that deal, somebody said that it was – and I remember this very distinctly, I said, 'Could they do this all the time?' – there was a little bit of a restriction, like 50 or 75 years before you could take another vote. Because, you know, a country can't go through that too much."
Associated Press
6 hours ago
- Associated Press
Higher US tariffs part of the price Europe was willing to pay for its security and arms for Ukraine
BRUSSELS (AP) — France's prime minister described it as a 'dark day' for the European Union, a 'submission' to U.S. tariff demands. Commentators said EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen's handshake with President Donald Trump amounted to capitulation. The trouble is, Europe depends mightily on the United States, and not just for trade. Mirroring Trump, Von der Leyen gushed that the arrangement she endorsed over the weekend to set U.S. tariff levels on most European exports to 15%, which is 10% higher than currently, was 'huge.' Her staff texted reporters insisting that the pact, which starts to enter force on Friday, is the 'biggest trade deal ever.' A month after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte ingratiated himself with Trump by referring to him as 'daddy,' the Europeans had again conceded that swallowing the costs and praising an unpredictable president is more palatable than losing America. 'It's not only about the trade. It's about security. It's about Ukraine. It's about current geopolitical volatility. I cannot go into all the details,' EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told reporters Monday. 'I can assure you it was not only about the trade,' he insisted, a day after 'the deal' was sealed in an hour-long meeting once Trump finished playing a round of golf with his son at the course he owns in Scotland. The state of Europe's security dependency Indeed, Europe depends on the U.S. for its security and that security is anything but a game, especially since Russia invaded Ukraine. U.S. allies are convinced that, should he win, President Vladimir Putin is likely to take aim at one of them next. So high are these fears that European countries are buying U.S. weapons to help Ukraine to defend itself. Some are prepared to send their own air defense systems and replace them with U.S. equipment, once it can be delivered. 'We're going to be sending now military equipment and other equipment to NATO, and they'll be doing what they want, but I guess it's for the most part working with Ukraine,' Trump said Sunday, sounding ambivalent about America's role in the alliance. The Europeans also are wary about a U.S. troop drawdown, which the Pentagon is expected to announce by October. Around 84,000 U.S. personnel are based in Europe, and they guarantee NATO's deterrent effect against an adversary like Russia. At the same time, Trump is slapping duties on America's own NATO partners, ostensibly due to concerns about U.S. security interests, using Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, a logic that seems absurd from across the Atlantic. Weaning Europe off foreign suppliers 'The EU is in a difficult situation because we're very dependent on the U.S. for security,' said Niclas Poitiers at the Bruegel research institution in Brussels. 'Ukraine is a very big part of that, but also generally our defense is underwritten by NATO.' 'I think there was not a big willingness to pick a major fight, which is the one (the EU) might have needed with the U.S.' to better position itself on trade, Poitiers told The Associated Press about key reasons for von der Leyen to accept the tariff demands. Part of the agreement involves a commitment to buy American oil and gas. Over the course of the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fourth year, most of the EU has slashed its dependence on unreliable energy supplies from Russia, but Hungary and Slovakia still have not. 'Purchases of U.S. energy products will diversify our sources of supply and contribute to Europe's energy security. We will replace Russian gas and oil with significant purchases of U.S. LNG, oil and nuclear fuels,' von der Leyen said in Scotland on Sunday. In essence, as Europe slowly weans itself off Russian energy it is also struggling to end its reliance on the United States for its security. The Trump administration has warned its priorities now lie elsewhere, in Asia, the Middle East and on its own borders. That was why European allies agreed at NATO's summit last month to spend hundreds of billions of dollars more on defense over the next decade. Primarily for their own security, but also to keep America among their ranks. The diplomacy involved was not always elegant. 'Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,' Rutte wrote in a private text message to Trump, which the U.S. leader promptly posted on social media. Rutte brushed off questions about potential embarrassment or concern that Trump had aired it, saying: 'I have absolutely no trouble or problem with that because there's nothing in it which had to stay secret.' A price Europe feels it must pay Von der Leyen did not appear obsequious in her meeting with Trump. She often stared at the floor or smiled politely. She did not rebut Trump when he said that only America is sending aid to Gaza. The EU is world's biggest supplier of aid to the Palestinians. With Trump's threat of 30% tariffs hanging over European exports — whether real or brinksmanship is hard to say — and facing the prospect of a full-blown trade dispute while Europe's biggest war in decades rages, 15% may have been a cheap price to pay. 'In terms of the economic impact on the EU economy itself, it will be negative,' Poitiers said. 'But it's not something that is on a comparable magnitude like the energy crisis after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, or even COVID.' 'This is a negative shock for our economy, but it is something that's very manageable,' he said. It remains an open question as to how long this entente will last. ___ Mark Carlson in Brussels contributed to this report.
