Aufgestanden! Hingesetzt! Blockiert!

On the 19th and 20th of September, over 40,000 people partook in an anti-pro-Köln sit in. Pro-Köln is a political group, which tried to hold a so called ‘anti-Islam Congress’. Well, that did not work. Köln is a city, which prides itself on being diverse, progressive, and relatively open minded. The congress was seen as a protest against a Mosque being built on the outskirts of the city. 3,000 Polizei descended on the city to protect the 1000 member congress. On Friday the group rented out a boat, under the auspice that they are a group of lawyers, and the captain unknowingly let the ‘lawyers’ on board. The boat was barraged with rocks, and eventually the ‘lawyers’ were escorted off of the boat. Saturday morning early, 40,000 people filled the streets and blocked the congress from assembling together.

So begins my personal account of the activities. Friday was uneventful, I was in class. However, Saturday I rode my bike into the city to see the hubbub. It was, from what I could see in the beginning, very peaceful. There were, it seemed, far too many Polizei for the event. I rode around the city a bit, picked up a new pair of socks, and decided to take a different path home. I couldn’t even take the street train home because the police had blocked off the bridge the train normally would go over. On my detour, I happened across hundreds of young Germans who were dressed in all black, black sunglasses, black balaclavas, and black backpacks. They were reminiscent of the images of Palestinians I have seen in pictures. I stood around a while, and decided nothing interesting was happening. Just as I turned the corner, I heard an M-80 firecracker go off. My senses heightened immediately, as if on 4th of July. I turned around and pulled out my camera. Before I could get more than a couple of shots off, a young girl demanded I turn off my camera. I was confused, but she was so determined, I was not going to cross her and her large friends. What happened next was almost funny. The protesters hurled more firecrackers (and I would later experience Molotov Cocktails) at the Polizei. They would be rushed by law enforcement, and return once the crowd-control retreated. The process repeated itself for around 15 minutes, until the news: the Anti-Islam Congress was canceled.

My experience begged questions: why would the protesters use violence? Why would they not lodge complaints of such a congress through traditional rule of law means? And why were they calling them Nazis (that was a point I forgot to mention earlier)? First of all, although this congress was definitely racist, I find it a stretch to call the people Nazis. I have a problem with that term being lightly thrown around as is. When Germans use the word, it has more cultural weight. To the point of protesters using violence, I wonder if they have ever read Gandhi. Later in the day, I witnessed roaming gangs of these Palestinian-like Germans running about the city, and chasing down people who looked like skinheads. I have read enough German history, to know this seems to be some sort of beloved sport of this culture. In the Weimar history, roving gangs of Communists, Socialists, National-Socialists (Nazis) would run around the cities fighting and killing people of other political and social associations. And the RAF did relatively the same thing in Germany, in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s (a new film comes out Thursday in Germany regarding that topic). There is a distinct continuity from what was expressed last weekend, and what has happened in German history. I find it disturbing.

I will have some photos up on my flickr account of the experience this week sometime. None of them came out that well, but if you strain you may see some protesters in balaclavas.