Storming of Bonn Old Town Hall The Bonna defeats “Rocky”

Bonn · The Lord Mayor faced off Carnival troops with boxing gloves but Mirko I and Patty I conquered the Old Town Hall.

Die Narren sind an der Macht: Prinz Mirko I. und Bonna Patty I. halten den Rathausschlüssel in Händen. Oberbürgermeister Ashok Sridharan, der als Boxer Rocky die Narren entmutigen wollte, hängt nach dem Sturm die roten Boxhandschuhe an den Nagel.

Die Narren sind an der Macht: Prinz Mirko I. und Bonna Patty I. halten den Rathausschlüssel in Händen. Oberbürgermeister Ashok Sridharan, der als Boxer Rocky die Narren entmutigen wollte, hängt nach dem Sturm die roten Boxhandschuhe an den Nagel.

Foto: Barbara Frommann

Bonn’s Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan had to accept three defeats in four days on Sunday. The chief administrator has lost three of his four town halls during the peak of the Rhineland Carnival and has to retreat to Hardtberg Town Hall until Ash Wednesday. Prinz Mirko I and Bonna Patty I are now governing the city. Supported by the Bonn city soldiers and the Bonn Carnival festival committee, the royal couple took the Old Town Hall on the fourth wave of attack.

The mayor deployed everything he could in its defence. He even had a former World Champion boxer at his side. Torsten May, a light heavyweight gold medal winner in Barcelona in 1992, advised Sridharan to be “Rocky” in the ring. No sooner said than done and the Lord Mayor faced the Carnival troops in a blue hoody with red boxing gloves. Sridharan took the first points in the exchange. When festival committee president Marlies Stockhorst told him there were 35,000 city soldiers in the attack wave, he countered: “Then I will stop this event immediately. The festival committee only notified 3000.” The president replied: “A point to you.”

When Patty I then promised the city soldiers the “most awesome Carnival party” in the world in the town hall, the company attacked and stormed the building. At 3.27pm the Lord Mayor surrendered, threw a sweaty boxing towel into the crowd and disappointedly handed over the keys to the town hall. “I lost in Beuel, I lost in Bad Godesberg, now I have also lost in Bonn – how can things go on like this?”

It looked for a long time as if the ranks of defenders would stand firm. The KG Walzbröde had heavily armed their personnel. 60 defenders of the town hall stood in the Marktplatz with sharpened pencils and shields made from document files and tried to hold off the city soldiers. “We gave it everything in our double anniversary year,” said sheriff Andreas König. The Walzbröde, who celebrate their 120th anniversary in 2017, have defended the town hall for 60 years, and have lost 60 times. When asked why the Walzbröde defend rather than storm the town hall, König answered: “Unfortunately no-one knows. We also can’t find an answer in our association archives.”

The Carnival revellers did not succeed with weapons but rather by using a wave of culture as a distraction. The Bonn city soldiers and their commander Ralf Wolanski, still inspired by their historic and unique appearance in Venice, used the Bonn group “Carnevale di Venezia” as support. They have popularised and reenacted the Carnevale di Venezia in the Rhineland for 20 years in their home made historic Venice carnival costumes.

People met up at the traditional Guard of Honour tent before the storming of the town hall. The home town association had significantly enlarged its camp in comparison to last year. Commander Thomas Janicke and 60 guards of honour supplied Bonners with food, drink, music and entertainment. “We have been putting up our tents and stands for 51 years and getting Bonners in the mood for the storming of the town hall,” said Janicke. Original text: Holger Wilcke. Translated by Kate Carey.

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