Köln - berättelsen om två borgmästare

Saxat ur The Brussels Journal:
"Once, Cologne had a mayor to be proud of.

Konrad Adenauer, mayor of Cologne from 1917 to

1933, was a devout Catholic. An outspoken opponent

of the Nazi regime (1933-1945), he played no political

role in Germany until the end of the Second World

War when the Americans reinstalled him as mayor

of Cologne but the British dismissed him after a couple

of weeks for “alleged incompetence.”

Following this dismissal for “incompetence” he founded

the German Christian-Democrat Party CDU and

became the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic

of Germany (1949-1963) and the “father” of the

modern, democratic Germany.

**
Cologne’s current mayor (since 2000), Fritz Schramma,

is also a Christian-Democrat. He governs a city that

is one of Germany’s oldest. Its Catholic Cathedral

(the Dom) is the largest Gothic church in Northern

Europe and until 1884, with its two spires of 157

metres, it was the tallest structure in the world.

Cologne (“Köln” in German) is Germany’s fourth

largest city, after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich,

but has dramatically changed since the days of

the great Adenauer. 330,000 people, which is

36 percent of Cologne’s inhabitants, are

immigrants, most of them Turks or people of

Turkish descent. Mayor Schramma needs their

support in order to remain in power.

**
Cologne’s Turks want to build Germany’s largest

mosque. The building will have two minarets of

55 metres high. The mosque is being built by

Ditib, the Cologne branch of Diyanet, the depart-

ment of religious affairs of Turkey, which reports

directly to the Turkish Prime Minister.
Last month, Mayor Schramma’s own CDU

voted against the building project which it deemed

“too provocative.” The mayor, however, did not

vote not with his party because he is in favor of

the mosque. As only the CDU (without the mayor)

and the city party Pro Cologne (Pro-Köln) voted

against the mosque, the project obtained the city

council’s approval, albeit by a narrow margin.

**
In 2004, Pro Cologne, which grew out of a grass-

roots organisation of indigenous locals who oppose

the mosque, obtained 4.7% of the votes and five of

the 90 seats in the Cologne city council. The party,

which is conservative, is being depicted by its

adversaries as a “fascist” and/or “Nazi” grouping,

though it has no links to German neo-Nazis.

It has become the nucleus of Pro North Rhine

Westphalia, a party on the state level (the state

of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), to which

Cologne belongs), and Pro Germany, a party

on the federal level. Polls predict that Pro NRW

may win up to 10% in next year’s state elections.
Today, Pro Cologne is holding an “Anti-Islamisation

Conference” in Cologne. As soon as the party

announced its intention to hold its rally, the

Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)

protested and OIC member Iran called on

France, which currently chairs the European

Union, to intervene and ban the “Islamophobic”

event. German leftist organisations, including

the trade unions and the churches, called for

a counterdemonstration.

**
Jürgen Rüttgers, NRW’s prime minister (CDU)

claims Pro Cologne is “against tolerance, re-

conciliation and humanity.” He called on

people to demonstrate peacefully against the

conference, which his friend, Mayor Schramma,

calls “a huge stomach ache.”
The mayor is pleased with the counter-

demonstration. “I am happy that Cologne shows

its true face of tolerance,” he said, calling for

“intolerance” to Pro Cologne. The mayor has

asked the local shops to remain closed today

and join the counterdemonstration.

“Shut your windows and doors, lower your shutters.

Make it clear to Pro Cologne and its camarilla:

you are not welcome,” he said.

Pointing out that “50% of Cologne’s children are

German and 50% are of foreign origin,” the mayor

added that Cologne is “probably the most tolerant

city in Germany, but I hope that this time it will

show itself to be intolerant.”

**
Yesterday, on the eve of the conference,

“anti-fascists” attacked Pro Cologne

sympathisers. Stones were thrown

at a river cruiser on which the party

intended to hold a press conference.

Michael Kucherov, a 45-year old

Jewish member of the federal executive

board of Pro Germany, was beaten up

on his way to the press conference.

Unlike his predecessor, Konrad Adenauer,

Cologne’s current mayor “lowers his

shutters” when evil forces take over his city."

***

PI-News har senaste nytt och

filmbilder från dagens pöbel-

upplopp i Köln.

**

UPDATE:

Se Islamofobens vettiga kommentar