This is the fest season, with almost every town of significance having some type of parade. Naturally, there's alcohol consumed. And if you have enough alcohol.....you have misunderstandings.
What the cops say over the weekend of Wiesbaden.....is that a number of fights (at least thirty) occurred around the parade area of downtown.
Some folks were injured during the fighting, and required medical services. As far as the local news reports.....no one got killed during the fights....just injured.
According to the authorities....there would have been a much higher number of injuries and assaults....if cops hadn't walked into a situation and calmed folks down, or separated folks before punches were exchanged.
For an American observing the situation....it's safe to say that fests draw people, and intensify consumption of alcohol. It's hard to say that a couple of German guys would meet up.....drink a lot of booze and fight among themselves. That's typically not the 'game'. It's usually where you bump into one guy, cause some gal to spill her drink, or simple look the wrong way at some poor slob who thinks you winked at him in a suspicious way.
Once folks start drinking excessively.......they rarely stop until they've run out of money, or their friend runs out of money. That's usually the quitting point where everyone tries to remember their way home and just call it a day.
If you were asking me if it's dangerous for an American to hang around such a German fest or parade.....I'd tell you no. You might have 100,000 folks hanging around downtown, and maybe 2,000 are drinking heavily.....with forty drunks near some level of starting a fight. If you do the statistics....you could spend hours downtown, and never bump into any of the forty aggressive folks.
Bottom line? Enjoy the German parades, and just make sure you buy another drink for a guy if you cause him to spill his......and he'll be your best friend....at least until he drops that second drink.
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