Pro-Russian car parade - near-accident at the police headquarters in Cologne on May 8th, 2022

On May 8th, 2022 at around 1:20 p.m., a motorcade on the subject of "Remembering the Victims of the War" with several hundred participating vehicles set off from the parking lot at Cologne's Fühlinger See in the direction of the Gremberger Grove. For safety reasons, the police changed the original route through the city center at short notice and led the motorcade over the Zoo Bridge to the right bank of the Rhine to prevent a possible encounter with a pro-Ukrainian counter-demonstration. At around 2:00 p.m., emergency services briefly stopped the elevator on Amsterdamer Straße in order to once again draw attention to compliance with the requirements with a view to traffic safety. The vehicles then continued on their way via Gummersbacher Straße and the eastern feeder road to their scheduled destination. Emergency services briefly arrested a 49-year-old man before the start of the meeting when he tried to advance to the opening rally with a Ukrainian flag. At 8:25 a near miss occurred.