Springtime

Spring has arrived. Well, to be honest, we've only seen only brief glimpses of this wonderful season to date. It is one of the most lovely seasons in northern Germany, because the losing of winter to the fullness of summer is drawn out over many months.

The weddings have started. The crocuses have blossomed. We are planning our summer holidays. And, lastly, the times of political rallies and demonstrations has come.

Yesterday, we had one of our city's most insipid and intensely anticipated "political rallies" of every spring. The fundamental right party (read neo-Nazis) petitions the town for the privilege of holding a rally. Since this right to "hold rally" is a part of any democracy, no matter that everyone knows these people political agenda poorly veils their despicable ideology, they are given the right to meet in public one Saturday in March.

What happens is an interesting study of the ludicrous. Two or three hundred people of this fundamental right party (read neo-Nazis)come to attend the rally. Two or three thousand people come to protest the rally. The protesters belong to all sorts of political parties or are just concerned citizens. Two or three hundred extreme left (read punks) come to stir up problems with the protesters and police. And, there are thousands of police lining the streets, trying to keep order.

The rally takes place in a small marketplace on the outskirts of Luebeck. The party members are given the rights to speak in public for half an hour. Most years, the protesters try to figure out means so that the people speaking at the rally can't be heard. This year, the nearby church took matters into their own hands and rang their church bells throughout the half hour. Legally, they were not allowed to do this (public ordinance). But, oddly, despite thousand of attending police present, none of them stopped the church from doing this.

After the rally, for the next five or six hours, riot reigns; the right try and beat up on the left, the left on the police, and everyone else hopes that their presence will restore peace. We have helicopters, riot police by the thousands, chained off streets, and endless escalations needed to be seen to. The costs! Ah, springtime. It's hard to explain.