The Baden-Württemberg city of Pforzheim was on Saturday the first southern German city this year where neo-Nazis mobilized against a local CSD. Yet the increasingly large queer demonstration and the CSD street festival could not be harmed by their attempts.
Already last year, around 90 neo-Nazis from the local “Pforzheim Revolt” and several groups from Germany and Austria marched against the CSD (TheColu.mn reported). This year, among others, the neo-Nazi “Kollektiv Saarpfalz” and the Brandenburg-based “Jägertruppe” used social media to urge people to come to Pforzheim to protest the CSD and an alleged “early sexualization.”
The Neo-Nazi Rally 2026
On Saturday afternoon, only about half as many participants turned out for the far-right rally as last year. On the Waisenhausplatz near the city theater, the neo-Nazis stood in a nauseating cloud of odors after unknown individuals sprayed butyric acid. They appeared poorly prepared, and organizer Dino C. even had to take the stage as the main speaker: he claimed that children are endangered by “OnlyFans,” drag artists, or CSD demonstrations.
1 In #Pforzheim wollen junge Neonazis heute gegen den örtlichen CSD protestieren. Viele sind es noch nicht. Städtische Mitarbeiter müssen noch den Geruch von Buttersäure überdecken, der über demPlatz liegt.
ENDSTATION RECHTS. (@endstationrechts.bsky.social) 2026-06-13T09:36:14.333Z
Bluesky / ENDSTATION RECHTS.
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The neo-Nazis received a one-page flyer with slogans (for example: “Speaker: For every child everywhere — Child protection now”) and eventually marched with shouts of “Gender propaganda out, out, out!” and “All of Pforzheim hates the CSD” on a short circuit through the city.
In his closing speech, C. seemed subdued by the low turnout. “Only a few dozen people? A disgrace,” he said. Maybe people were “just not angry enough.” With “Class instead of mass” he tried to frame the situation more positively, before again complaining: that trans people would get testosterone at the expense of taxpayers, while he would have to “swallow creatine in the gym.”
The Pforzheim police later reported that there were two bodily-harm offenses during the protests, but did not provide further details. “Investigations into the exact sequence of events and the people involved are ongoing.”
Pride Without Disturbances
The Nazis hardly managed to disrupt this year’s CSD. For about an hour, queers and allies paraded through the city under the banner “No pride for some without liberation for all. Exclusion? Not with us!” On the Market Square, Vicky and Cindy Jenner and other artists performed. The sun shone all afternoon.
The local organization Spotlight e.V. organized the CSD. The group was founded in 1985 as Aidshilfe Pforzheim and renamed in 2023. “We’re really overwhelmed. 1,400 people! That’s even more than last year,” said Caleb Davis from the Spotlight team. He noted that everything during the march and the festival in front of the town hall went off without disruptions. “I think we’ve once again shown unequivocally that Pforzheim is queer. We won’t be driven out!”
Direct link | Video report by the “Pforzheimer Zeitung” on CSD 2026
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Stress in the Lead-Up
City administration and the police had left the organizers of the CSD in the dark for a long time about the far-right march. The neo-Nazis had reportedly registered it back in March 2026. “Finding out about the counter-demonstration from the press was disappointing,” said Caleb Davis of Spotlight. “Maybe it was due to vacation time, but we would have preferred smoother communication.” In 2026, the city administration again refused to hoist a Pride flag on the Pforzheim City Hall. For the first time, however, the city had the Gernika Bridge in the downtown area illuminated in rainbow colors.
In Pforzheim, the AfD became the strongest party in the June 2024 municipal elections with 27.3 percent of the second votes; queer-hostility is a significant problem throughout the city’s social fabric. An elaborate mural painted by queer youth in front of the CSD was defaced with black paint within hours. Shortly before the CSD, neo-Nazis of the “Dritte Weg” distributed queer-hostile leaflets in the Haidach district: “We say yes to the natural family and no to unnatural urges!”
Also the Spotlight display case in the underpass, where the CSD was advertised, was repeatedly smeared and spat on. “The more queer the topic, the dirtier the window,” Davis commented sardonically on Saturday. On CSD day, evangelicals from “Werde Licht!” also displayed a queer- and transphobic info stand in the pedestrian zone. Queer people who wanted to attend the CSD were offered flyers. They stated, “If you are homosexual or want to undergo a gender transition, you are internally torn,” with messages that Jesus Christ frees you “from this lie” and a “perverted mindset.”
Networking and Solidarity
What or who can support queer activists on the ground in such a situation? “Networking with other CSDs in the region is so important,” says Caleb Davis of Spotlight. After the neo-Nazi marches against CSDs in Bautzen in 2024 and Pforzheim in 2025, Pride organizers from both cities—despite being in distant states—had exchanged experiences. Symbolically, Jonas Löschau from the Bautzen CSD took the sponsorship of the Pforzheim CSD and delivered a speech on site. And Davis offers another recommendation: “The avenues for supporting a local CSD must be broad enough so that everyone can find their ‘place.’”
The local support on Saturday in Pforzheim worked: the Protestant church decorated the Schlosskirche at Schulberg, through which the neo-Nazis passed, with two rainbow flags. The church also operated one of the loudspeaker vans on the march. The Stuttgart Antifascist Action Coalition (AABS) and other antifascists had mobilized to Pforzheim and participated in the CSD.
Caleb Davis: “We are grateful that so many groups from outside also came—bringing their expertise in certain areas and their solidarity.” (ra/ls)
