Köln – On August 14, 1945, Americans celebrated the end of the war against Japan. After the crises of the last few years, Cologne is finally celebrating normally again Lent …
A sailor kisses a young woman stormily. A scene from Zülpicher Strasse, Cologne’s party mile, is reminiscent of the iconic photo from New York that once graced the cover of Time magazine.
New York: The world-famous photo was shot in Times Square
But here Emily (21) from Cologne and Peter (28) from Hamburg are helping each other. They reveal BILD: “We met five minutes ago. Now let’s enjoy the day together.”
The newly in love carnival couple has been on the road since nine o’clock and is going full throttle. Just like thousands of revelers in the student district.
Some of them break into doorways before noon. But the good news: Zülpicher Straße wasn’t packed at first! Nevertheless, the celebration zone was temporarily closed.
These paramedics were busy. A young man overdid it and needed treatment
Why? “It doesn’t matter how many people are in the Zülpicher district, but how many are in one place,” said police spokesman Wolfgang Baldes. “It is important that the escape routes are clear.”
Because Zülpicher Straße was overcrowded in some places, the whole mile was closed
The concept worked! Young people celebrated on the university meadow with music and beer serving. By 1 p.m. half of the meadow was packed. Getting through – hardly possible!
A young reveler is shouldered by a friend on the university meadow. From 1 p.m. it was almost impossible to get through here
Police: Young people “crazed” at lunchtime
And of course there was a lot of drinking at both student spots. The police spokesman: “Around midday, some were already completely full. We saw the first ugly scenes at noon.”
Control became a matter for the boss! Police President Falk Schnabel (54) was personally on the streets with Mayor Henriette Reker (66, non-party). “There weren’t such crowds of people at the closure points as there were on November 11th,” Schnabel said happily.
Police President Schnabel and Mayor Reker got an idea of the situation on site
Reker: “There are hardly any older adults there. They’re all young people who obviously really appreciate singing carnival songs in their own age group!” Jeck just stays Jeck!
Security forces and officials protected them from excessive mischief. A total of 2,500 police officers were deployed in Cologne.
