Christopher Street Day | Pride in Bautzen: Danger from right-wing attacks?

Hundreds of black-clad neo-Nazis, a burning rainbow flag, and a canceled after-show party: the right-wing disruptions at the Bautzen Pride parade became a symbol of growing queerphobia . Right-wing extremist groups realized that counter-protests at Pride parades could mobilize a large following, forming groups and networking. Scholars spoke of a "new generation of neo-Nazis" that feeds on hatred of queer people.

On Sunday, August 10, the Pride parade in Bautzen will take place for the third time. Time for an interim review of this year's Pride season: Did the right-wing mobilizations build on the momentum of the previous year ? And what can we expect from the Pride parade in Bautzen?

How many anti-CSD actions have taken place so far

The Center for Monitoring, Analysis, and Strategy (Cemas) and the association Democ jointly evaluated the situation up to July 21. According to the data, 132 Pride parades had taken place in Germany up to that point. According to Cemas and Democ, right-wing extremist counter-demonstrations have occurred at 17 Pride parades so far. By comparison, during the same period last year, there were 122 Pride parades and, according to Cemas, only four counter-protests.

This year's largest anti-CSD demonstration so far took place in Dresden – just like last year's CSD in Bautzen. Cemas and Democ report around 120 participants who responded to a call from the right-wing extremist group Elblandrevolte. In 2024, Cemas counted 90 counter-demonstrators.

Other major neo-Nazi demonstrations at Pride parades this year have taken place in Pforzheim, Baden-Württemberg (90 participants), Falkensee, Brandenburg, and Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia (each with around 60 participants). This demonstrates, even more clearly than in 2024, that right-wing counter-actions at Pride parades are a pan-German phenomenon.

"It remains to be seen whether the large right-wing extremist anti-CSD protests from last year will be larger or smaller this year."

Joe Düker, Researcher at the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (Cemas)

"It remains to be seen whether the large right-wing extremist anti-CSD protests from last year will be larger or smaller this year," Cemas researcher Joe Düker told the "nd" newspaper. One reason for this: this year's CSD events in the cities with the largest right-wing extremist anti-CSD protests in 2024 will largely take place in the coming weeks and months.

Often it does not remain just peaceful protest

What is already certain, however, is that this year, too, it won't just be demonstrations. Cemas and Democ report on an attack in Fulda: A right-wing extremist attempted to attack a Pride marcher with an iron bar, but the police were able to prevent it. According to official reports, three officers were injured in a scuffle. In Emden (Lower Saxony), a 31-year-old man was punched in the face on the sidelines of the Pride march. In Berlin, two teenagers attempted to attack participants in the "Marzahn Pride" march.

Several Pride celebrations had to be restricted or canceled entirely this year—for example, in Regensburg, Gelsenkirchen, and Düsseldorf. The reason was threats received beforehand, to which the police responded with concerns about possible attacks.

Not only CSDs are threatened

Anti-queer violence also occurred nationwide outside of the CSD celebrations during the Pride season: In Bad Freienwalde, Brandenburg, suspected right-wing extremists attacked a planned event for diversity and tolerance before it had even begun . According to police, at least two people were slightly injured - only the intervention of security forces prevented worse things from happening. In Berlin, the Tipsy Bear bar was attacked several times: Unknown people tore down rainbow flags, set them on fire, and threatened guests with a baseball bat. On the same weekend, a man attacked the Romeo und Romeo café in Berlin-Schöneberg, hurling anti-queer insults at guests and injuring the owner with a glass bottle. In Rostock, two intoxicated people disrupted a memorial event for queer victims of Nazi Germany.

After many neo-Nazi groups, such as Young and Strong (JS), German Youth Forward (DJV), and German Disturbance Squad (DST), reformed in 2024 to disrupt Pride parades, Cemas and Democ are observing this year that established right-wing extremists are increasingly engaging in anti-queer activities. These include the Young Nationalists, the youth organization of the Nazi party Die Heimat (formerly NPD), and the far-right splinter party Der Dritte Weg (The Third Way). "Apparently, these organized right-wing extremists now want to reclaim control over 'their' anti-queer issues," Cemas and Democ's analysis concludes. While the established groups were surprised by the independent actions of the young groups last year, a closer alliance between the two movements is now evident. "This year's protests are more organized," says Joe Düker.

So what can we expect when the Pride parade takes place in Bautzen next Sunday? Police anticipate a similarly high level of danger as at the 2024 Pride parade. They expect between 300 and 700 participants at the announced counter-demonstration.

A possible decrease in protests is no all-clear

Right-wing extremism researcher Joe Düker warns against interpreting a possible decline in protests as a sign of relief. "Even if the anti-CSD protests by young neo-Nazis were to decline, this scene still poses a threat – especially at smaller CSD events, where even a small number of right-wing extremists can be a relatively large number," says Düker.

A decline in visible counter-mobilization does not mean a decrease in right-wing extremist attitudes or willingness to use violence. Rather, the early public attention that politicians, authorities, and the media paid to Pride parades and potential disruptions this year may have had a deterrent effect. But this also poses new risks, says Düker. "It's quite possible that the young neo-Nazis will turn to other targets instead in the coming months."