Mainz Parade

Yesterday was a holiday in Mainz....Fasching.  Several hundred-thousand folks showed up for the big Rosemontag Parade.

Generally, folks start to already be there around 6AM....getting their floats in the final stage for the parade.  By 9Am....folks start to show up on the streets, and about a quarter of them are already sipping alcohol or beer. I know, it's a bit early, but folks in Mainz are that way.

Around 11:11 AM, the parade officially starts, running through roughly two miles.  From beginning to end....it'll take roughly five to six hours.  All the while....booze being consumed.

Around 700 folks had to be 'controlled' by the cops.  There are various debates over what controlled typically means.  In my book, it means that you were stupid enough, or drunk enough....that the cop had no choice but to intervene.  The sad thing is that none of this involves cars, horses, or bicycles.  This is simply folks walking around or already collapsed.

190 of the cases that the cops handled were teenagers or juveniles

The 2nd picture you see is around by the Bahnhof, around 10:30 AM, and a couple of the college students engaged in a bowling type game where you need to consume an entire beer if you knock the ball over.  Luckily, each kid had a six-pack of beer to start with.  They were finished with the beer game in roughly thirty minutes (figure six each).

The third picture?  These were two gentlemen who appeared to have consumed a fair amount by 11:30 and were basically holding each other up while walking down the street.

I stood and viewed the number of ambulance crews and medical folks in the background.  I would guess that at least three-hundred folks were there to handle emergency situations.  Extreme drunkenness is simply one of their jobs to handle.  I felt sorry for the medical folks.

Security?  The city and state brought out a lot of cops to ensure the safe nature of the parade.

The curious thing is that the cops report at least fifteen folks that they had to go and arrest, and they were confrontational to the cops.....meaning they were going to resist arrest.  That stupidity usually gets you some serious judgement time with the court-system, and you can imagine telling the judge that you just don't remember much because you were almost passed out.

I stood around and watched this for about 2.5 hours, and then said enough.  It was fairly chilly, and I was probably watching the drunks....more than the parade.