Far-Right Anti-Islamisation-Congress

The far-right group "Pro Köln e.V." (Pro-Cologne) planned to hold a so called "Anti-Islamisation-Congress" on the 19th and 20th of September in Cologne, Germany. Due to the protests of several thousand people the congress ended before it started.

As the event started, anti-fascist protesters stoned a Rhine river cruiser on which a press conference was due to be held, forcing the ship to abandon its dockside berth in a hurry and not being able to get back to the riverside for five hours. When they finally arrived back on land, their buses left without them, after the drivers found out who really chartered them. The taxi drivers as well refused to drive them and the local hotels cancelled their bookings after they found out about the identity of their guests. During the evening they got kicked out of several pubs when the innkeepers learned that they where no birthday party as they pretended. The congress on the next day was cancelled by the police on safety grounds as the venue was blocked by 10.000 opponents.

Photographer

Dated from 2008-09-19 and 2008-09-20