Several thousand Berlin ravers took to the streets of the German capital on Saturday (August 25) for the annual “Love Train” (Zug der Liebe), a protest march with a techno soundtrack.
Thudding techno blared out from more than a dozen floats sponsored by charities and campaign groups, for causes as diverse as homelessness, leukemia and animal rights.
Organizers describe the event, which has been held every year since 2015, as a “social rave”, with participants demonstrating for openness, civic engagement and a “better society”.
The “Love Train” website lists a range of objectives such as sustainable city development, the eradication of poverty and gentrification, and the preservation of dance events and green spaces in the city.
But organizer Jens Schwan told Reuters this may well the last “Love Train” parade for financial reasons, since it has no sponsors and has been partly funded from his own pocket.
The event has echoes of the “Love Parade” march which took place annually in the German capital after the fall of the Berlin Wall until 2007, when it moved to the Ruhr region.
I was just laughing at those signs In 2010, 21 people were killed and more than 650 injured in a stampede at the event in the industrial city of Duisburg.
REUTERS
For more details, watch the full report in the video above