Society: After racist shouting on Sylt – Kampen breathes a sigh of relief

Society: After racist shouting on Sylt – Kampen breathes a sigh of relief

A month ago, party guests at the Pony Club on Sylt shouted racist slogans. A video clip of this went viral and not only put Kampen and its guests in the national spotlight.

Women with discreet designer watches on their wrists and large sunglasses on their noses stroll barefoot with their children to the beach in Kampen. Luxury cars with gleaming chrome are parked in the sun in front of Club Pony on Sylt on this June afternoon. Their owners are drinking cool Pinot Gris on the terrace of the bar that made huge headlines across the country a month ago.

While everything seems to be back to normal in the upscale town of Kampen after the much-described racism scandal a month ago, fundamental changes have taken place for at least two men and one woman since a Whitsun party. At Whitsun, they shouted racist slogans on the partially covered terrace of the Pony to the tune of the party song “L’amour toujours” by Gigi D’Agostino – apparently completely unashamedly and exuberantly. One month after these racist incidents became known, the public prosecutor’s office in Flensburg is continuing to investigate them.

“The investigation will certainly take a few more weeks,” senior public prosecutor Bernd Winterfeldt told dpa. Investigations are underway on suspicion of incitement, and one of the men is also being investigated on suspicion of using symbols of unconstitutional organizations.

Incident on Sylt became known a month ago

In a video lasting just a few seconds, which is said to have been taken on Whit Saturday at a party with more than 500 revelers in the well-known bar and club, young people can be seen and heard chanting “Germany for the Germans – foreigners out!” One man makes a gesture reminiscent of the Hitler salute. On May 24, the police made the incident public, and it made national headlines and caused outrage.

The Pony operators took a public stance shortly after the incidents became known. Now they did not want to comment on dpa’s inquiries. The post in which they distanced themselves from the case four weeks ago and spoke out against “racism, fascism and any form of discrimination” and declared that they would report the party guests responsible is still pinned on the bar’s Instagram page.

The club’s operators said they had received death threats. “We are being insulted in the worst possible way and are receiving death threats,” they wrote on the club’s Instagram profile. They also published a sequence from a surveillance video that shows the scene from a different angle.

Around two weeks ago, the operators shared sequences of a Pentecost party without racist chants or any connection to them on Instagram: Young women dance with full glasses in tight dresses and short skirts, men in white shirts sway happily and laugh to techno beats, bright drone images show luxury cars and quick pans of partygoers on the terrace. Champagne is poured from magnum bottles, and the words “Champagne Shower” are displayed with three bottle emojis.

Two more possible cases of racism on Sylt

The public prosecutor’s office is also investigating two other cases – which are also said to have happened in Kampen at Pentecost. In one of the clubs, a guest is said to have shouted “Germany for the Germans, foreigners out!”, and this is now being investigated for incitement.

According to Winterfeldt, a suspect has been found in a third case – he must now answer for bodily harm, incitement and damage to property. On Whitsunday, he is said to have attacked a 29-year-old woman on a street near a beach bar in Kampen and insulted her with racist language – the woman was slightly injured in the attack, according to the police.

After a few turbulent days, the mood in the village is now fortunately calm again, said Kampen’s mayor Stefanie Böhm (Kampen Voters’ Association). “Sylt has a certain charisma: Due to the nationwide media coverage following the incident in the Pony, some people may be more sensitive and cautious.”

This could therefore help to ensure that many people look and listen more closely when similar incidents occur elsewhere. “Especially in these times, we all have to be careful and alert when it comes to such racist statements.” Something like this has no place at any Pentecost party, or at any celebration in general.

Sylt’s Dehoga boss: Island is not a right-wing stronghold

Dirk Erdmann, head of the Sylt Dehoga and operator of the Rungholt Hotel in Kampen, also expressed his relief: “We are glad that the matter has calmed down, but we all have to show civil courage, that is elementary so that something like this cannot happen again,” he told the dpa.

The European elections have made it clear in which direction Germany is developing politically – the low results of the AfD in Schleswig-Holstein also showed that the northernmost federal state and thus Sylt “can in no way be described as a right-wing stronghold”.

“Sylt was, is and will remain a cosmopolitan and friendly island,” Florian Korte, spokesman for the municipality of Sylt, told dpa. After the video became known, the municipality coordinated with the tourism service and quickly published a joint statement. This statement, of course, still stands.

In response to the video with racist yelling, several dozen people gathered for a vigil in the island town of Kampen on Sylt. They wanted to make a stand against the right. A few days later, a small group of around ten punks marched through Westerland under the motto “Be loud against the right!” Later, the “Sylt against the right” initiative planned a larger demonstration in front of the town hall in Westerland.

Consequences for the screamers on Sylt

For some of those involved, the shouting had a quick aftermath: The advertising agency Serviceplan Group announced that it had dismissed an employee involved without notice. Hamburg influencer Milena Karl also said she had dismissed an employee who was involved.

One of the students involved had also been threatened with serious consequences; her Hamburg university, the University of Applied Sciences (HAW), had considered expulsion but has now decided against it. However, according to the HAW, a ban on the student from the university that was imposed until the end of July remains in place.

Source: Stern

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