Stopping Iran... in Bonn

The local Kurdish population got together last Saturday in Bonn to protest recent attacks by Iran on northern Iraq. The section of Iraq targeted in the July attacks was the Kurdish autonomic region, Iraqi Kurdistan.

It was a unique sight to see the protesters spread across Münsterplatz, the home of the famous Beethoven statue. It's not often that you see protests in Bonn - especially right in the middle of town like this one.

The latest big demo I can remember here was when locals blocked the Kennedy Bridge to voice their protest to nuclear power in Germany. Of course the numbers were huge then - over 10,000 turned out.

The anti-Iran protests last Saturday gathered together just a few hundred supporters. According to the website yekkom, Kurds number some one million in Germany. The group says that Kurds in Germany still struggle to be properly recognised as an official migrant group.

The attacks by Iran on the Kurdish autonomic region is a "developing story", as CNN would say. It certainly didn't get much coverage in western media over the recent weeks. Here is a small report from Al Arabiya for those that missed the story.

Nuclear power? No thanks.

People in Berlin have been watching events closely in Japan over the last few days. From what I can gather many locals have a soft spot for the Japanese people. At first there was compassion for the victims of the earthquake and the resulting tsunami. Now, things have taken a turn. The impending nuclear catastrophe at the Fukushima reactor reminds people here all too well of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Concerned onlookers have turned to angry protesters.

There were a series of demonstrations here almost immediately after the first headlines reached Germany about problems at Japan's nuclear power facilities. Many people are still angry about the German government's late 2010 decision to extend the usage of Germany's nuclear power plants. The government (and Angela Merkel) has now bowed to the pressure, putting that decision on ice for three months. The local protests are in addition to nationwide demos across Germany, demanding a stop to the use of nuclear power.

And, of course, everyone has been expressing their dissatisfaction by flying the now famous little green, yellow and red flag which says "Nuclear power? No thankyou". This flag seems to get brought out whenever this issue flares up again. This morning I saw a man stick the emblem across the BMW badge on the front of his car.