IGermany's largest Rose Monday procession set off in Cologne on Monday morning. While last year, as an exception, they started from Deutz on the right bank of the Rhine and then moved across the Rhine, this year they once again started as usual from Severinstorburg in Cologne's Südstadt on the left bank of the Rhine.

This year's satirical floats show, among others, Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a sloth in a hammock and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as an elephant in a china shop. In the car, a figure with his pants down stretches his bare bottom towards some arms outstretched in the Hitler salute – one arm bears the AfD logo.

“It's a good time, which isn't always super easy.”

“This car really says it all: They can kiss our asses,” BAP singer Wolfgang Niedecken said on WDR television on Monday. He also recalled the large right-wing demonstration in Cologne at the end of January. “It was touching. When I walked over the Deutzer bridge, there was a choir, an amateur choir, singing Bläck-Fööss songs, and then families came with strollers, then old people came with walkers – they wanted to be there.” All these people would have wanted. convey the message, “No, you can't get past us.”

North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) rose on Monday in Cologne


North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) rose on Monday in Cologne
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Image: dpa

The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst (CDU) also runs in the Cologne Rose Monday procession. “It's a good time that's not always super easy — just have a little fun,” he said. The carnival is a living diversity, like all of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Frieda, the maid of the Cologne triumvirate, was not on the train: she – who is actually a man and goes by the name Friedrich – had to undergo hip surgery on Sunday. This reduced the triumvirate to a duo. “We are enjoying this day for my father,” said Prince Sascha, who is the real-life son of a virgin.