“There have never been as many thanks to the police as this year”: With these words, Second Mayor Dominik Krause (Greens) summarized the district administration committee’s discussion of the security report, which Munich Police Chief Thomas Hampel explained on Tuesday. After district administration officer Hanna Sammüller-Gradl almost raved about the “incredibly nuanced” report, the work done by the local police last year was praised across all parties.
The broad recognition did not, of course, persuade the committee members to follow a police recommendation for the next item on the agenda and not only to extend the alcohol ban at the main train station, which expires at the end of April, but also to expand it spatially – namely to the north around the Old Botanical Garden adjacent Karl-Stützel-Platz as well as a little further away between Dachauer Strasse, Karlstrasse and Augustenstrasse, which is known as Norkauer Platz. In any case, the CSU and Free Voters faction wanted to see this passage added to the draft resolution, but this did not receive support.
However, in the face of opposing votes from the Left/The Party and the FDP/Bavarian Party, the committee decided to follow the district administration officer’s original request: According to this, the consumption and carrying of alcoholic beverages in the public areas inside the main train station and directly around it remain prohibited over the next four years, until May 2028. The full assembly of the city council must formally confirm the resolution next Wednesday. The first alcohol ban ordinance for the station area came into force in 2017 when more and more passers-by and shop owners complained about crimes related to drugs and alcohol.
On Tuesday, the committee also included an amendment from the town hall coalition of the SPD/Volt and the Greens/Rosa List in the resolution: This instructs the district administration department to inform the city council how the security situation around the main train station has developed by the second quarter of 2025 at the latest , and what effect any measures that will soon be recommended by a task force that has yet to be formed will work.
In doing so, the city council signaled that it wanted to respond to developments in the area around the main train station. Police Commissioner Hampel had previously described the area as a “hot spot”: The increase in drug and sexual offenses in the Old Botanical Garden in particular was cause for concern. In addition, large construction sites and vacancies on Schützenstrasse influenced the sense of smell and safety. “We have to tackle the issue with the highest priority,” Hampel demanded and appealed to the city: “The police cannot solve the situation alone. We can only do it together.”
Dark corners, overgrown hedges, drugs and alcohol: the police describe the Old Botanical Garden as a “hot spot”.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
During a site visit the day before, Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) was also convinced that something urgently needed to be done in the Old Botanical Garden, reported SPD city councilor Christian Vorländer: “The park must be brighter and more visible.” In addition to video surveillance by the police, better lighting should also be installed and the overgrown bushes should be cleared. Vorländer cited “dark corners, overgrown hedges and large groups of men” as reasons why citizens avoid the area. “We don’t want no-go areas,” he emphasized, “Munich must be a safe space everywhere.”
The Greens support the decision, even if Christian Smolka reminded that the approval of the first alcohol ban ordinance “was a big step for us”. His party is “very critical” of the resulting exclusion of homeless people or addicts. However, Smolka is convinced that “we will see how the measures work in a year.” ÖDP city councilor Tobias Ruff also supported the motion; he suggested banning both alcohol and cannabis consumption at the main train station, but he was alone in the plenary session.
Marie Burneleit (The Party) initially spoke out against the continuation of the alcohol ban. She joined the welfare associations that are calling for it to be lifted because the ban does not help those affected. She made a verbal request to also declare Theresienwiese an alcohol-free zone. Richard Progl (Bavaria Party) justified the rejection of the alcohol ban at the main train station by saying that exactly what his group had feared when it was introduced had happened: a suppression of the problem.