Duesseldorf’s famed carnival parade skewers global figures with political floats, as its designer faces trial in Russia for his satirical work.

DUESSELDORF: From Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump, Germany’s annual carnival celebrations offered no refuge for the world’s powerful.

The tradition of political satire was in full force during Sunday’s parades, with elaborate floats lampooning global figures.

Sculptor Jacques Tilly, the head float designer for Duesseldorf’s parade, is currently on trial in absentia in Moscow.

He is accused by Russian authorities of spreading false information about the Russian military through his work.

“Humour can hurt and definitely affect those targeted,” Tilly told AFP in December.

He promised the political floats for this year’s parade would be as “foolish and satirical” as ever.

Tilly’s creations this year included a large papier-mache depiction of Putin.

The Russian president was shown being hit over the head by a face-painted jester marked “satire”.

Another float featured notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein portrayed as the devil.

Text on the float read “everyone protects the perpetrators” and “everyone ignores the victims”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and US President Donald Trump were also prominent targets.

One Tilly design showed Trump and Putin together feasting on a small blonde woman marked “Europe”.

Another depicted Merz and Bavarian leader Markus Soeder riding on a skeleton with a steering wheel.

The wheel was marked “combustion engine”, referencing their efforts to water down a planned EU ban on such cars.

The floats reflect a tradition of normally reserved Germans letting loose for the festival.

Even during carnival, serious political themes often become the object of fun.

“Carnival is bad music, plastered people and a good vibe,” Frederik Held, a 30-year-old sport scientist, told AFP.

“Everything’s better with confetti,” he added while on his way to a procession in Mainz.

The largest procession took place in Cologne, traditionally seen as the carnival capital.

Organisers arranged for 300,000 bouquets of flowers and 300 tonnes of sweets to be thrown from floats.

Mariana Leshkovych of the pro-Ukraine support group Blue Yellow Cross highlighted the importance of the event.

“We are here in Cologne to represent this, to support humour and criticism of those in power,” she told AFP.

She added that the group wished to see such freedom of expression continue in Ukraine.

 The Sun Malaysia