Overview
- The organized Karneval season officially opened on Wednesday with tens of thousands in Cologne and about 9,000 people at Mainz’s fenced Schillerplatz, and festivities went ahead despite rain.
- Cologne deployed roughly 1,000 police officers, 450 municipal order‑office staff and about 1,200 private security workers to manage hotspots such as the Heumarkt, Zülpicher Straße and Chlodwigplatz.
- Mainz sold limited pre‑tickets for a fenced central area, enforced bans on glass and pyrotechnics and set up an on‑site Awareness‑Raum as a low‑threshold support space for people affected by harassment or sexualized violence.
- Authorities carried out targeted youth checks and stepped‑up crowd controls after recent violent demonstrations in late October, and police described the overall early‑day balance as largely peaceful with only isolated incidents.
- The 11.11 ritual draws on long local traditions linked to the number eleven and Martinstag, political satire remains central to the season’s motifs, and this year’s session is compressed because Aschermittwoch falls on 10 February 2027.