Cologne’s Pride parade draws upwards of 1 million in Germany

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Around 1 million people have turned out for the Pride parade in the western German city of Cologne either to participate or to watch the colorful festivities. Around 180 LGBTQ groups and music floats are taking part in the parade through the city center on Sunday. That’s more than ever before. The German news agency dpa reported that organizers said that about 1.2 million visitors came while the police estimated the crowd at around 1 million. Hendrik Wuest, the first governor from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Cologne is based, to attend the city’s parade in its roughly 30-year history, said that with the parade, Cologne is sending “a strong signal for diversity, for tolerance, against hate and against exclusion.”