I just returned home on Tuesday afternoon from a trip that included Karlsruhe, a bit of Stuttgart, and Cologne for the Karneval festivities on Sunday and Monday. I’m still sorting those photos, and I’ll post about Karlsruhe and Cologne next week.
It was a very interesting weekend, though. When I was in Stuttgart, I saw a very large Polizei presence walking through the Hauptbahnhof on either side of a small group of people carrying pink flags. One of the flag carriers shouted, in English, “This is what democracy looks like!” I had no idea what he was talking about. Later on, I saw a second, much larger group of men without any noticeable flags or placards being escorted by another rather large group of Polizei.
The Stuttgarter-Nachrichten had the story- there is a plan to include more details about homosexuality in the sex-ed classes in Baden-Württemberg, and there was a homophobic protest against that change. What I saw was part of of a counter-protest, hence the pink flags. The Stuttgarter-Nachrichten has a great article about the protests here, including some pretty terrific photographs. I was mildly surprised to see the old “Gays are pedophiles” canard written out on a German protest sign, but it was there.
Here’s a few pictures I snapped in the Hauptbahnhof before I found out what was going on. If I had known this protest was happening, I would have tried to get over to Palace Square to see more.
Have you ever stumbled across an unexpected political protest?
Whimsy. Tacos. The DMV. 
About four years ago Sean and I were wandering around Asheville, NC and we came upon some sort of PETA demonstration on one of the street corners. There were gawd-awful pictures and spilled blood. I dunno what they were protesting, so it wasn’t very effective, but it sure was distasteful. Nobody was stopping, and after a while they just packed up and went away.
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Sean looked up his pictures from Asheville. It was 2008 and it was a vegan demonstration. They were carrying signs that said “Meat is Murder.” No wonder I couldn’t remember their message!
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Aw, it’s sad to see this in Germany… I realise that the older generation still tends to believe this ‘homosexuals are paedophiles’ rubbish (my grandmother and her sisters do), but I thought that, by now, younger folks were a bit more enlightened. Well, I guess (hope!) the majority is.
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Funny that you are writing about Stuttgart and protests. When I lived there Stuttgart 21 was being protested on a regular basis. At its height of controversy the polizei brought out water cannons to clear the crowds linking arms to block the cutting down of the trees in the Schlossgarten. The day before we ate dinner and marched a portion of the protest with 20,000 others. I loved that Stuttgart regularly had demonstrations downtown. The Schwabs are a reserved lot, but willing to stand up for what they think is right.
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