Sawt Falasteen - German carnival revellers take swipes at Putin, Trump, Epstein

Sculptor Jacques Tilly, head float designer for Duesseldorf's parade, is on trial in absentia in Moscow, accused of spreading false information about the Russian military.

"Humour can hurt and definitely affect those targeted," he told AFP in December, promising that the political floats for today's parade would be as "foolish and satirical" as ever.

Tilly's creations this year include a papier-mache of Putin, the Russian president, being hit over the head by a face-painted jester marked "satire" as well as a depiction of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as the devil, with text reading "everyone protects the perpetrators" and "everyone ignores the victims".

As usual, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the polarising US President Donald Trump are sure to be lampooned across the country.

One of Tilly's designs for the Duesseldorf carnival features Trump and Putin together feasting on a small blonde woman marked "Europe".

Another shows Merz and Bavarian leader Markus Soeder riding on a skeleton with a steering wheel -- marked "combustion engine" in a reference to their efforts to get the European Union to water down a planned 2035 ban on such cars.

- 'Everything's better with confetti' -

The floats reflect a fine tradition of normally buttoned-up Germans letting their hair down for the originally Christian festival although -- even during carnival -- serious and weighty political themes are often the objects of the fun.

"Carnival is bad music, plastered people and a good vibe," Frederik Held, a 30-year-old sport scientist who lives in Frankfurt, told AFP.

"Everything's better with confetti," he added whilst on his way to nearby Mainz for a procession.

The largest procession will take place in Cologne, traditionally seen as the capital of carnival.

Organisers in the western city have arranged for 300,000 bouquets of flowers and 300 tonnes of sweets. Both are thrown by floats passing by as they roll through the city centre.

Mariana Leshkovych of pro-Ukraine support group Blue Yellow Cross told AFP in Cologne whilst decorated in Ukraine's national colours that it was important to support freedom of expression.

"We are here in Cologne to represent this, to support humour and criticism of those in power, because we would like to see this continue in Ukraine," she said.

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST