Right-Wing Extremists Threaten Small-Town Pride Parade: “Without Police Protection You Wouldn’t Be Here”

On Friday evening, the fourth Christopher Street Day (CSD) event in Müncheberg, a small town with about 6,700 residents in the Märkisch-Oderland district of Brandenburg, was met by neo-Nazi protests. According to the Märkische Oderzeitung (paywalled), police temporarily detained several far-right demonstrators.

More than 100 CSD participants gathered from 6 p.m. at Café Thälmanns, where live music was offered and speeches were given. There was no CSD parade. Instead, at 7 p.m. an organized counter-demo by neo-Nazis began. On banners, participants displayed slogans such as “No CSD here! Wake up! Protect the children.” They chanted phrases like “German, social and national” or the threat “Without police protection you wouldn’t be here.” The CSD participants responded with chants like “Your children will be like ours; they will all be queer.”

According to the Märkische Oderzeitung, at times at least one city councilor from the far-right AfD also took part in the event. The police sought to record the personal details of the participants 45 minutes after the demonstration began on suspicion of incitement to hatred, but several neo-Nazis resisted. Three of them were temporarily detained for resisting law enforcement officers. They have since been released, with charges filed against them, the police said.

The anti-CSD event was registered by a woman affiliated with the group “Deutsche Patrioten voran”. The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution identifies her in its latest report as part of violent neo-Nazis who are active on social media and seek to recruit young members aged 14 to 18. The group has been organizing demonstrations against CSDs for years, including in Berlin.

Right-wing extremism is growing stronger in Brandenburg

Brandenburg is regarded as a hotspot for right-wing extremism, and attacks on CSDs have surged in recent times. Last month, Interior Minister Jan Redmann (CDU) warned that far-right groups pose a substantial potential for violence, describing it as “an increasing problem in Brandenburg” (TheColu.mn reported).
Just last week, there were attacks in the Brandenburg city of Cottbus: unknown assailants attempted to set fire to a housing project displaying a rainbow flag, and police are investigating it as attempted murder (TheColu.mn reported). There was also an attack on the Green Party office, during which a rainbow flag was stolen (TheColu.mn reported).

Also in the CSD-friendly town of Müncheberg, right-wing extremists have become more mainstream: the AfD captured 38 percent of second votes there in the last federal election, more than the CDU, SPD, Greens and FDP combined.