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Local Germany
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Local Germany
IN PICTURES: The wildest 'Rosenmontag' floats at this year's Carnival in Germany
Costume-clad revellers took to the streets in German cities to mark the end of the famous carnival season on Rosenmontag (Rose Monday). Rosenmontag, as its known in German speaking countries, is more often called Shrove Monday in English, and takes place ahead of Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent in the Christian tradition. It marks the most ecstatic celebrations in Germany's carnival season which starts months earlier on the 11th of November. Many German cities, especially those in the west side of the country, celebrate Rosenmontag with lavish parades. Düsseldorf and Cologne are both known for hosting bombastic parades filled with immaculately decorated floats. Here's a look at some of the wildest parade floats seen at the Rosenmontag parades this year: Revellers surround a float on wokeness during the parade to celebrate Rose Monday (Rosenmontag). Photo: Ina Fassbender / AFP One notable float this year anticipated the criticism some of the parade floats could be expected to receive: an eyeball labelled "wokeness" stares down a nervous-looking man wearing a hat labelled "satire". Many of the floats in Düsseldorf's parade depict politicians or recent events with sharp satire. Among the bigger targets of this year's political humour was US President Donald Trump. Trump was also joined by billionaire turned political force Elon Musk, who has been savaging US public services with cuts recently. Musk sparked controversy in Germany this year when he repeatedly weighed into the federal elections in support of the far-right AfD. Russian President Vladimir Putin was also a leading character this year, and he was seen with Trump in scenes depicting recent developments around Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A float portraying Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump forming a 'Hitler - Stalin - Pact 2.0' to squash Ukraine and its President Zelensky. Photo: Ina Fassbender / AFP Pro-Russian politicians in Germany, including Left Party defector Sahra Wagenknecht and AfD leader Alice Weidel, were also satirised in Cologne this year. The politicians were depicted on a float bearing the words, "From Moscow with love" and seen brandishing sunflowers with Putin's face on them, bursting out of a suitcase full of money. Of course, there were more than a few less-than-flattering depictions of the AfD to be seen at the carnival parades. A float portrays AfD co-leader Alice Weidel as the witch from the tale 'Hänsel and Gretel' trying to lure first voters into her house. Photo: Ina Fassbender / AFP AfD co-leader Alice Weidel was seen as the witch from the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, trying to lure voters into her house. Meanwhile, conservative leader and soon-to-be German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was seen as a mule weighed down by a heavy pile of political burdens. A float portraying Friedrich Merz as donkey trying to pull a cart full of political problems such as 'migration', 'Trump', 'recession', 'debt-brake' and 'AfD'. Photo: Ina Fassbender / AFP Merz is currently in the process of trying to form a coalition with the centre-right SPD after his centre-right CDU/CSU alliance swept to victory in the federal elections on February 23rd. In Cologne, the right-wing politician was seen ripping through a red banner with the words "Chancellor Scholz" to turn the word Scholz into "Schmerz" - the German word for pain. Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz was also seen on a ship labelled 'Abgesoffen' (sunken), depicting his Social Democrats Party's historically low results in the recent election. While politics dominated the carnival parades in both Rhineland cities, festival-goers also enjoyed some incisive commentary on wider societal issues. In a hilarious float that many commuters in Germany will no doubt relate to, the Cologne parade featured a skeleton with flowers and chocolates waiting for a delayed train to Cologne Central Station. Commentary on the frequency of delayed trains in Germany at Cologne Carnival. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Oliver Berg The float was capitioned "Liebes Entzug" - or the revocation of love - which plays on the German word 'Zug', meaning train. Deutsche Bahn, Germany's national rail operator, has become notorious for its frequent delays and cancellations in recent years. Artificial intelligence, which has soared to prominence with tools like ChatGPT in recent years, also made an appearance at Düsseldorf's parade in the form of a robot feasting on a human brain. A float portraying an Artificial Intelligence robot feeding on a brain. Photo: Ina Fassbender / AFP According to a report by t-online, around 700,000 were estimated to have attended the parade in Düsseldorf this year. Seated with a front row view of the procession were local politicians Lord Mayor Stephan Keller (CDU), Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) and Mona Neubaur (Greens), among others. In Cologne, meanwhile, around 12,500 people took part in the Rose Monday parades alone, with around a million people travelling to the city to witness the vibrant spectacle.
Local Germany
04-03-2025
- Local Germany
What we know so far about the fatal car-ramming incident in Mannheim
Germany is in a state of shock after a car was driven into a crowd of pedestrians in the centre of Mannheim on Monday afternoon, killing at least two people. It is the third suspected car-ramming attack the country has seen since December, with previous fatal incidents occurring in Magdeburg and Munich. While investigations are ongoing, the police say they have arrested a suspect and are treating the event as a deliberate attack. These are the latest facts that have emerged. How did events unfold on Monday? According to police reports, a man drove a black Ford Fiesta at high speed into a crowd of people in Mannheim city centre at around 12:15pm on Monday. The centre of Baden-Württemberg's second largest city was bustling with shoppers and people enjoying the carnival market for Rose Monday. Food stalls and fairground rides had been set up along the Kapuzinerplanken shopping street and around the water tower. The car reportedly sped along the Friedrichsring road and into the pedestrian zone along the main shopping street of Planken towards Paradeplatz, hitting several pedestrians along the way. Eyewitness Enes Yildiz, who works in a nearby tax office, told AFP that he heard a loud noise at the time of the incident and went outside to find the streets in "disarray". "It was a mess, as if it had been hit by a bomb," he said. A dead body was seen lying on the ground and there were pools of blood everywhere. "There were a lot of people crying, people shouting for help, people calling the police," Yildiz told reporters. The intensive care unit of Mannheim's university hospital quickly issued a disaster alert, while heavily armed police swarmed the area and blocked off a number of roads in and out of the city centre. According to a report in Tagesschau, a taxi driver's heroic act contributed to the arrest of the suspect. Having witnessed the horrific incident, the taxi driver followed the Ford in his car along the road towards a dead end. After the suspect unsuccessfully attempted to head in the direction of the Rhine crossing towards Ludwigshafen, the taxi driver got in the way of the driver with his vehicle, forcing the suspect to flee on foot. He fled towards the harbour where he was placed under arrest. Why had the streets not been cordoned off? Despite the police being on high alert for the carnival season, authorities in Mannheim had apparently seen no reason to cordon off the market and the pedestrian zone. According to police, bollards and other barriers would have created traffic congestion and made it difficult to organise deliveries to shops in the areas. Nevertheless, there will no doubt be questions in the coming days and weeks about whether the security precautions were high enough. Police patrol the scene after the suspected car-ramming attack in Mannheim. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Boris Roessler Who were the victims? Media reports on the number of victims have varied, but the latest information from police reveals that two people were killed in the incident: an 83-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man. In addition, at least 11 people were injured - five of them seriously. All of the victims were rushed to hospital and are receiving treatment. According to Andreas Stenger, President of the State Office of Criminal Investigation, there is no evidence that children were involved or hurt in the alleged attack. What do we know about the suspect? Rumours and fake news have swirled in the wake of the suspected attack, forcing Mannheim police to issue several statements urging people to rely only on official sources. On Monday evening, public prosecutors and police confirmed that a 40-year-old German man had been put under arrest in connection with the incident. The man comes from the neighbouring city of Ludwigshafen in Rhineland-Palatinate, which is situated on the other side of the Rhine from Mannheim. He is believed to be single and previously worked as a landscape gardener, though it is unclear if he was employed at the time of the incident. The man has several previous convictions, prosecutors said. These include an assault offence that resulted in a short prison sentence more than ten years ago, as well as a case of drunk driving. Police search the Ludwigshafen apartment of the suspect in the Mannheim car-ramming incident on Monday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/NEWS5 | Ferdinand Merzbach The most recent offence was a hate speech offence from 2018, when the man was sentenced to a fine for a Facebook comment on a post from a far-right group. During the arrest, the man apparently shot himself in the mouth with a blank-firing pistol and is currently being treated for his injuries in hospital. Police have placed him under investigation for two counts of murder as well as several counts of attempted murder. They hope to be able to question him on Tuesday. Was there a terrorist motive? The motive for the attack remains unclear, though public prosecutors say there is so far no evidence that the suspect had an extremist or a religious motive. However, there were "concrete indications" the perpetrator was suffering from a mental illness, investigators said. This is set to be the focus of ongoing investigations. So far, the evidence points to the car-ramming incident being a deliberate and targeted attack in which the suspect attempted to run down as many pedestrians as possible. In the destroyed Ford Fiesta, investigators found a handwritten note stuck to the dashboard under transparent film, which appeared to lay out plans for the attack. On Tuesday, German daily Bild reported that the note contained scrawlings in blue ink, including a grimacing face with its tongue sticking out and mathematical calculations for recording the speed and reaction time of a vehicle. Investigators are probing whether this is relevant to the suspected crime. According to DPA, the alleged perpetrator's flat in Ludwigshafen was also searched on Monday evening, and several unspecified items were seized. What happens now? In the aftermath of the traumatic incident, the carnival market in the centre of Mannheim has been shut down. In addition, three large department stores in the city centre will remain closed on Tuesday. Singer Maite Kelly cancelled a concert planned for Wednesday in Mannheim out of respect for the victims. In addition, several carnival events planned for Tuesday in Baden-Württemberg were cancelled, including parades Heidelberg and Schwetzingen. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) also cancelled a planned appearance at the Rose Monday parade in Cologne in order to travel to Mannheim on Monday. Meanwhile, many politicians, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), CDU leader Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed their condolences. "Once again we mourn with the relatives of the victims of a senseless act of violence and fear for the injured," Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on X, adding: "We cannot accept this." With reporting by AFP and DPA.
Al Etihad
04-03-2025
- Al Etihad
One dead, several hurt as car hits crowd in German city: Police
3 Mar 2025 19:36 Mannheim (AFP)A car driven into a crowd in southwest Germany on Monday killed at least one person and injured several more, police said, adding that a suspected "perpetrator" had been police shut down the inner city of Mannheim where a damaged Ford passenger vehicle sat near a pedestrian shopping arcade with the front windshield smashed. Two car ramming attacks in other German cities since December have killed eight people, while Mannheim was the scene of a stabbing attack at a rally in May that killed a policeman and wounded five other people. Police did not call the latest incident an attack but said a suspected "perpetrator" had been arrested after the car was driven through a downtown shopping area around 12:15 pm (1115 GMT)."We can now confirm that a car was driven into a pedestrian zone and that one person was killed," said police spokesman Stefan Wilhelm, adding that several people were injured. "One suspect was arrested," he said, adding that "the investigation is continuing"."It's heartbreaking," cafe owner Kasim Timur, 57, was quoted as telling news site Der Spiegel, adding that one of his staff members had seen seriously injured people, among them said residents had been urged "to avoid the inner city area" amid the major police operation. Officers with heavy weapons cordoned off the area and police helicopters were seen in the Bild daily said two people were killed and 25 injured in the incident, with pictures showing ambulances near the city's historical water tower. Spate of attacks The Baden-Wuerttemberg state interior ministry had warned the population of a "life-threatening situation" through its disaster warning app as the first reports of the incident intensive care unit of Mannheim's university hospital declared a disaster alert. German cities have seen several violent attacks in recent months, including stabbing sprees and car ramming attacks blamed on asylum month a man drove a car into a trade union demonstration in the southern city of Munich, killing a two-year-old girl and her mother. Police arrested a 24-year-old December a car-ramming attack targeted a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, killing six people and wounding hundreds. Police arrested a man at the itself was the scene of a stabbing attack at a rally in May in which a policeman was killed and five others wounded, with a man now on trial over the were on high alert as Monday is the high point of traditional German carnival celebrations before the beginning of Minister Nancy Faeser said before the incident in Mannheim that festivities were taking place "with high security precautions".Mannheim had seen thousands take to the streets on Sunday for its own carnival cancelled her visit to the Rose Monday parade in Cologne to travel to Mannheim. Security was a major theme in last month's general election, which was won by CDU/CSU under Friedrich Merz.
South China Morning Post
03-03-2025
- South China Morning Post
From Trump to Putin, Germany's Carnival puts politics on parade
Hundreds of thousands of costumed onlookers watched and cheered as Germany's beloved Carnival parades made their way through city centres on Shrove Monday, the highlight of festivities each year. Advertisement The biggest parade on Shrove Monday, known in Germany as Rose Monday, was held in the western city of Cologne with some 12,500 participants accompanying satirical – and sometimes explicit – floats and throwing some 300 tons of confectionery into the crowds celebrating along the route in bright sunshine. This year's festivities were marred by heightened security following a string of deadly attacks in Germany in recent months. Just as people were celebrating Carnival, at least two people were killed and several injured when a car drove into a crowd in the southwestern city of Mannheim , according to police. An investigation into the incident is in full swing, with police yet to determine whether the incident was due to an attack or an accident. Advertisement Speaking ahead of Monday's parade, Cologne police president Johannes Hermanns said he was not worried about security at the event, with a large police contingent deployed to ensure a peaceful celebration. Marc Michelske, head of Cologne's Shrove Monday parade, also said he felt 'very relaxed', adding that it was important to show resilience against intimidation, following calls on social media for attacks during Carnival.
Al Jazeera
03-03-2025
- Al Jazeera
At least two killed after car drives into a crowd in Germany's Mannheim
Several others injured in incident in western Germany and one person in custody, police spokesperson says. 3 Mar 2025 At least two person have been killed and several others injured when a car rammed into a crowd in the western German city of Mannheim, authorities say. Police spokesperson Stefan Wilhelm said a driver on Monday rammed into a group of people in Paradeplatz, a square in a pedestrianised area of Mannheim. Police arrested the car's driver and later said he had acted alone, with no broader threat seen for the public. The driver is a 40-year-old German from the nearby state of Rhineland-Palatinate, said Thomas Strobl, the state interior minister of Baden-Wurttemberg, where Mannheim is based. He confirmed that two people died and that 'several others are seriously injured'. 'The police are working hard to clarify what happened, the background to the crime and the perpetrator's motivation,' Strobl added. Paradeplatz, a major square in the downtown area, lies at the end of a pedestrianised street in Mannheim, which has a population of 326,000 and is 85km (53 miles) south of Frankfurt. Mannheim University Hospital said it was treating three people from the crash, two adults and a child, German news agency dpa reported. It was not immediately clear whether other hospitals received patients. Carnival weekend The incident comes a day after Mannheim held a street parade, the main event in its annual carnival celebrations. Across Germany, many people have taken a long weekend off to celebrate carnival, including Rose Monday, when many cities hold parades. German cities have seen several violent attacks recently, including stabbing sprees and car-ramming attacks. Last month, a man drove a car into a trade union demonstration in the southern city of Munich, killing a two-year-old girl and her mother. In December a car-ramming attack targeted a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg, killing six people and wounding hundreds. Mannheim itself was the scene of a stabbing attack at an anti-Islam rally last May in which a policeman was killed and five others wounded. Before Monday's incident in Mannheim, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that festivities were taking place 'with high security precautions'. She cancelled her visit to the Rose Monday parade in Cologne due to the events in Mannheim, a spokesperson for the minister said.
