The overwhelming success of the demonstration “Rave The Planet Parade”, for the preservation and recognition of electronic music culture, exceeded even our most confident expectations. Based on averaged estimates from various sources, we now assume that approximately 300,000 participants joined the parade last Saturday, 09 July 2022.

The entire team of rave the planet gGmbH and all partners and supporters are overjoyed. The demonstration took off shortly after 14:00. At hourly intervals, the political demands were played as audio recordings in German and English on all floats, and a total of nine speeches (rallies) were held in addition. The unexpectedly high number of participants challenged the authorities and also us.

First of all, we would like to point out that according to our confirmed knowledge, there were no incidents that involved any particular danger or serious injuries to participants. On an average Saturday, the Berlin rescue centers carry out about 1,500 operations. On the day of the parade, there were about 55 more, but they were not explicitly distributed at the demonstration, but throughout the entire city area.

On the stretch between the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column, the demonstration procession was welcomed by a large number of waiting people. As the floats entered the Straße des 17. Juni, the street became even more crowded, especially in the areas around the vehicles themselves. This temporary concentration of the crowd was reminiscent of the best times of the Berlin Love Parade, but prompted the police to prohibit – temporarily at first – the further playing of music shortly before 9:00 pm. This measure was intended to prevent a further increase in the number of participants. After the music was turned off, the rows cleared slightly, but not to the extent desired to allow the music and the planned program on the floats to continue.

After consultation with the Berlin police, the demonstration was ended after the final rally of Dr. Motte, prematurely, around 21:20, by the assembly leader. Background of this decision was the shortly before made order of the police to restrict the right of assembly insofar that the music could not have been switched on again until the end of the demonstration at 22:00, which unfortunately put a de facto end to our way of demonstrating.

We would like to thank all the law enforcement authorities, in particular the Berlin police, the Berlin fire department, the rescue services and ambulance services, for their excellent cooperation. In view of the unexpectedly high number of participants, they were put to a tough test, but they mastered it with flying colours, resulting in an overall smooth running of the assembly.

After the parade, photos appeared in the media showing Dr. Motte mistakenly waving a peace and heart sign sticker that later appeared to be a logo of the so called “Querdenker” – a group COVID deniers. The Rave The Planet crew is tolerant and welcomes all people, even those with many different opinions, to the parade. However, we explicitly distance ourselves from the contents and demands of this movement, which obviously made an attempt to exploit our peaceful demonstration and the person of Dr. Motte for their own purposes. Dr. Motte did not know the symbol and we do not know who handed it to him on the float. All he recognized on the sticker were hearts, a peace sign and the title “Freedom Parade” and at no time did he associate it with any questionable movement. He has already expressed his regret about this in a personal statement. For us, this “incident” is thus closed.

All that is left to say is that we heartily celebrate the significantly positive reactions to the successful demonstration and will begin planning for a follow-up next year once the aftermath is complete. We will provide any updates on this via social media and our website.