After a racist incident at the Bergkirchweih in Erlangen, the festival hosts and the city’s mayor, Florian Janik (SPD), have clearly distanced themselves from it. In addition, the restaurateurs have decided not to play the song “L’amour toujours” by the Italian DJ Gigi D’Agostino at the festival.
According to police, two visitors chanted racist slogans to the song on Friday evening. The State Security Department of the Erlangen Criminal Police Department has launched an investigation – and the 21 and 26 year old suspects have also been banned from entering the Bergkirchweih festival, according to police.
Two police officers from Essen, who were attending the festival privately on Friday, had notified security and called the police because two guests shouted “Foreigners out”. The suspects were expelled from the festival. In a statement on Saturday, the managers of the beer garden in question said: “We, as the owners and operators of the Altstädter Schießhaus, clearly distance ourselves from the slogans chanted and the associated attitudes. We condemn any form of xenophobia, racism and intolerance in the strongest possible terms and will not tolerate such behavior, regardless of its form, on our premises.” They also wrote that their business employs people from more than ten nations. All guests are welcome “who are committed to the free democratic basic order of our country and who want to eat, drink and celebrate happily and peacefully.” People with extremist political views have “no room to spread their views.”
Mayor Janik said: “The Erlanger Bergkirchweih is as colorful as our city.” The mayor praised the actions of those involved. They had shown “that xenophobia and racism have no place on the mountain.”
Recently, a similar incident on the holiday island of Sylt made national headlines. The video, which is only a few seconds long and is said to have been shot at Pentecost, shows young people shouting racist slogans to the tune of the more than 20-year-old D’Agostino party hit. They seem to be completely unashamed in singing “Germany for the Germans – foreigners out!”