BERLIN (AP) \u2014 Haidar Darwish, a Syrian belly dancer and artist, took the stage at Berlin’s Museum Island wearing a flamboyant hoop skirt and red fez. He asked the audience for a moment of silence and then said the show must go on \u2014 despite a fatal attack on the city’s Pride celebrations that has plunged the LGBTQ+ community into mourning.<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday there was an attack and a hate crime on our community in Berlin during the Pride Parade,” he told the crowd Sunday night, struggling to keep his emotions in check.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s heavy on our community but we are pushing through, and we are here specifically today, myself and my artists, to show up and be visible,” Darwish said.<\/p>\n
Saturday night\u2019s van ramming and stabbing near Berlin\u2019s Pride festival that left one person dead and almost 30 wounded was an extremist terror attack, authorities said.<\/p>\n
The suspect was killed by police Sunday evening. Authorities said Abdul Ballout, a 21-year-old German-born citizen with Lebanese roots, apparently ran toward officers with a sharp instrument and police fired at least one shot. <\/p>\n
Some officials question how Ballout had been able to move freely in Germany following a conviction linked to his ties to the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n
Darwish, who fled from Syria in 2016, was on stage Sunday with Queens Against Borders, a performance group created to build solidarity with refugees, migrants and immigrants from the LGBTQ+ community. Also on stage were an Egyptian belly dancer, Aleya, and a Nigerian drag performer, Countess Sasha Seduction.<\/p>\n
Pushing aside the pain, Darwish began spinning like a traditional Anatolian dervish, his red skirt billowing in a graceful cone. Traditional Arabic melodies filled the space, growing louder and faster as Darwish stripped off his skirt and, to cheers, began performing belly dance moves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying our best, to be honest, in these weird, horrible times to create a stage where we can be present,\u201d the 30-year-old Darwish, who goes by \u201cThe Darvish,\u201d told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
He stressed that it was especially important for them to perform on the night after the attack for a wider audience outside their LGBTQ+ community that included Berliners of all backgrounds as well as many foreign tourists.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, he said that \u201cwe are tired to constantly be put in a position where we have to fight endlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the dancers could easily stay home but \u201cwe can also put grief into joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darwish and the other performers danced until the audience leaped from their chairs and joined in, transforming an otherwise sad and somber night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BERLIN (AP) \u2014 Haidar Darwish, a Syrian belly dancer and artist, took the stage at Berlin’s Museum Island…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[1126,1124,112,190],"class_list":["post-136016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-ap-world-news","tag-associated-press","tag-berlin","tag-germany"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116992597508518348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}