Cologne – The first “Alaaf” felt a little like the first piece of chocolate after Lent!
Cologne has its carnival again! After a year-long break, 11,000 people celebrated the opening of the session at Heumarkt on Thursday. Confetti, Kölsch – Corona !? How does that fit together?
Party in the pandemic So jeGG is Cologne’s carnival
11/11/2021
Despite the exuberant atmosphere, there was a slight shadow over the party in view of the increasing number of cases and full intensive care units. Only the day before, the Jecken had found out: The designated Prince Sven I (45) has Corona – the entire triumvirate was not there at the beginning of the carnival.
Nevertheless, the celebrants at Heumarkt made the best of it. In compliance with the 2G rules, they swayed, sang and clinked glasses.
As if nothing had happened – Cologne is celebrating Carnival again
“Mir sin widder do” read a sign that a woman in the crowd held up. The fools felt safe. Rag clown Mattes to BILD: “It was very well controlled, we are all vaccinated here. It feels good to be here. “
There were strict controls at the Heumarkt and in the old town
Some pubs were even on the safe side, only allowing freshly tested people in, like the Gilden im Zims (here even with its own test station). The controls in the city went well, according to guests. Tammo (31): “I had to show my identity card for the vaccination certificate for the first time.”
Ralf (59) from Dortmund: “I was a little queasy this morning, but the controls gave me security.”
Mayor Henriette Reker was even turned away at the Heumarkt once because she had forgotten her identity card. She defended the beginning of the carnival in the pandemic: “There are a lot of people who are on 11.11. would no longer simply be banned. “
Control problems on Zülpicher Straße
What worked well at the Heumarkt went really wrong in places on Zülpicher Strasse!
At the entrances to the “Kwartier Latäng” one could unfortunately see these scenes again and again: Jecke rushing through the entrances without showing their vaccination certificate. Celebrating people who presented a QR code but not their identity card – even though Zülpicher Straße was bursting at the seams!
The Zülpicher Straße was as full as never before on 11/11.
At 3:15 p.m., the city reported that both Zülpicher Straße and the prepared relief areas at the level of the university meadows were overcrowded and all entrances had been closed. 13,000 Jecke were allowed in – as many as in the years before Corona …
When asked by BILD, the city played down the careless reviews: There may have been a few individual cases in which the 2G controls did not work, it said.
First assessment by the police and the public order office
A lot going on, little is happening! The Cologne regulatory office recorded a relatively relaxed 11.11.!
For example in the old town: Here the Maltese had to provide help 59 times up to the afternoon, two of them because of cuts through glass. Good news: There were no missions due to the abuse of alcohol or drugs by young people.
The police and the public order office kept a watchful eye on the celebrants
In the Zülpicher district, an employee of the public order office was injured by throwing a can. The suspect was taken into custody.
The police reported a total of five physical injuries, ten dangerous physical injuries. The officers also recorded three reports of sexual offenses.