Cologne’s Carnival parade will take place on “Rosenmontag” despite weather experts forecasting heavy thunderstorms. The intense low-pressure system Ruzica, however, led other cities to call an early end to festivities.
Partygoers in Cologne were relieved after city authorities, including the Cologne Carnival Committee, the city’s administrators, firefighters and police agreed to go ahead with the traditional Rose Monday or “Rosenmontag” processions.
Horses and horse-drawn vehicles would not be allowed in Monday’s parade and groups which traditionally rode on horses would be marching on foot, officials said.
Police also prohibited big flags, placards and figurines and asked participants to dismantle heavy installations on carriages and buildings. A group of officials were inspecting the scenes on Sunday to prepare for Monday, Cologne daily “Kölner Stadtanzeiger” reported.
Celebrations cancelled in several cities
Severe weather warnings did, however, spell the end of Rose Monday parades in Mainz, Duisburg, Münster and Hagen.
“The weather conditions are too touchy. It’s too dangerous for us,” President of Duisburg’s Carnival Michael Jansen told reporters. Hagen’s carnival head, Moritz Padberg, also confirmed his city was canceling its parade, adding that officials would consider holding the processions in Spring.
According to the weather department, a low-pressure system called Ruzica is expected to bring with it gales measuring 8 on the Beaufort scale. In some places, winds blowing at 100 kilometers per hour (60 mph) could be expected. “Procession leaders may have to consider cancelling their hours-long parades,” Christoph Hartmann, meteorologist with the German weather service (DWD) told reporters.
Thunderstorms and heavy showers with lightning were expected to strike on Monday, but temperatures would be a relatively warm 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees F). Another low-pressure system on Tuesday would cause icy temperatures on Ash Wednesday, weather officials reported.
Revelers in Düsseldorf were still waiting for officials to decide if the city would hold its traditional procession.
OPINION: Be alert after terror arrests – not alarmist
After arrests during anti-terror raids, the fear of attacks in Germany has grown. Yet millions will join Monday’s Carnival parade festivities, DW’s Christoph Strack writes. That is an expression of strength.
After several terror suspects were arrested on Thursday, it seemed as if German media outlets were running a pool on the most likely site for attacks. And then, only four days after the raids, the significant achievements of security forces – including the federal police’s new anti-terror unit – were barely mentioned in the Sunday papers.
Many Germans believe that the country is under threat of attack. In Bonn and Cologne, for example, two terrorist plots have failed in recent years. But panic does not prevail.
One of the men arrested last week appears to have easily entered Germany with his wife on false claims that he was a Syrian refugee from Aleppo.
Believed to really be from Algeria, he allegedly has direct ties to “Islamic State” and possibly even to one of the murderers who took part in attacks in Paris in November.
The arrests demonstrate the attentiveness of the authorities and the benefits of international cooperation. The men’s activities were only in the “early stages,” investigators said – making a case against alarmism. Federal and state security forces are needed, and they are getting the job done. That is how things should work.
Look at Braunschweig
Society is vacillating between vigilance and normalcy. Surveys show that concerns are growing. Many Germans expect that events will be canceled or access restricted if safety cannot be guaranteed.
On Carnival Sunday 2015, authorities canceled the parade in the German city of Braunschweig at the last minute because of attack fears. This Sunday, the city would not be cowed.
Carnival is a civic duty, and it should stay that way. It is comparable to the Bundesliga soccer matches that host hundreds of thousands of fans every weekend. One thing is for sure: If millions celebrate Carnival Monday in Cologne, Dusseldorf and Mainz, then the voice of pleasant normality will be heard – and that of admirable strength.
-DW.COM
