Anarchist Christopher Street Day Demo

There were absolutely brilliant speeches by members of the LGBTQ+ community but our march, through areas of the city where there have been homophobic attacks, was still marked by leering faces and intrusive filming. There is much work to do and lots of structure that needs changing to accommodate everyone. 

During one powerful poetry/rap performance, a man who looked like he didn't fit in with the rest of the crowd began filming and licking his lips and laughing. At first I thought he was part of the organisation, but he was getting very close to the performers face and was eventually confronted by members of the crowd. He got away with it by pretending he was in favour of the protest, but his laughing, dancing eyes told another story and it was sad to see that even in Berlin, in a crowd of LGBTQ+ supporters, trans people in particular were still targeted for abuse. 

The march also stopped outside a new very modern building in Neukölln, Berlin which has kicked out former residents and advertises the highest rent possible (as allowed by the council) for this area. It's amazing to see how political the Berliners are about this issue, protesting against gentrification of their area.