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Techno-music parade to return to Berlin

March 9, 2015

Berlin is to host a techno-music parade this July with the motto "parade of love". Organizer Jens Hohmann announced today that the application to hold the event would be handed in to the authorities this week.

https://p.dw.com/p/1Enk5
In 2006, a young girl dances to techno music with millions of others in front of the Berlin Victory Column at the Berlin Love parade (Copyright: Marcel Mettelsiefen/ dpa)
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

It is not to be a revival of the Love-Parade, Hohmann stressed, but rather a demonstration of togetherness and tolerance. The 42-year-old, together with some DJ friends, is planning a parade with a maximum of 10 floats. They are hoping to go from Alexanderplatz to Kreuzberg and organize everything without needing to rely on advertising or sponsors.

The aim is to highlight that certain members of society are being marginalized by an increase in rent, but also to raise awareness for the plight of refugees. "A traditional demonstration might attract 50 to 100 people, but with music we can reach so many more," Jens Hohmann said.

The annual Love Parade electronic dance music festival was started in 1989 in Berlin at the initiative of techno-DJ Dr. Motte. Later, as it grew in size, it moved to the Ruhr area. It was permanently cancelled after a crowd rush in Duisburg in the summer of 2010 caused the death of 21 people. Hohmann said that organizers of the 2015 Berlin parade were considering holding a minute's silence in remembrance of the Duisburg accident.

ej,sc/jt (dpa, Tagesspiegel)