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?