Post date: May 19, 2013 3:16:32 PM
Thousands of spectators celebrate Berlin's annual Carnival of Cultures, as the four day-long street festival peaks with a colourful parade in the city's Kreuzberg district.
BERLIN, GERMANY (MAY 19, 2013) (REUTERS) - Berlin's annual Carnival of Culture reached its peak on Sunday (May 19th), as thousands of revellers took to the streets of the German capital to watch a colourful street parade celebrating the city's ethnic minorities.
Established in 1996, this year's 18th edition, according to the festival's organisers, boasted 4.800 participants divided into 80 groups performing music, dance and acrobatics in colourful costumes, on floats, on stilts and simply on foot."The sun, the atmosphere, the people, the fun, everything...and the samba," said performer Simone Karl.
Dozens of floats were seen parading slowly through one of the main roads of the ethnically diverse Kreuzberg district, home to Berlin's biggest foreign population and Germany's largest Turkish community.
"Everything is great, also the weather. Everything is right," said spectator Sabrina Bernd, as temperatures of around 23 degree Celsius brought thousands of people to join in the festivities.
The carnival kicked off on May 17th with a street festival featuring 300 stalls selling food, arts and crafts and other goods, and it will end on Monday May 20th.