Do Bavarian police officers wish they were back in the winter months when one of their main tasks was to keep incorrigible “walkers” at bay? If you read through many a police report from the weekend, then this thought might occur to you. Because right now it’s not just folk festival and church consecration time, but also festival season.
At the Mahogany Festival in Schwandorf, for example, according to the police, the visitors overdid the partying. The organizers, on the other hand, no longer understand the world. The festival last took place in 2019. “That was wonderful.” Now what happened?
A small culture and music festival with almost 1000 visitors took place from Thursday to Sunday at Lake Klausen near Schwandorf, organized by a few students. From the point of view of the Schwandorf police, it degenerated. If you ask one of the organizers, then it was a “nice, non-commercial festival with 140 musicians who played for this project free of charge.” He does not want his name to be mentioned, he believes that the allegations made in the police report and in the press are too serious.
According to the police, patrols drove out to the lake for almost a dozen operations spread over four days. Sometimes you have that many in one evening at a church fair. The police put it this way: First, a visitor under the influence of drugs fell off a pedestal. As the night progressed, the police had to come back because the visitors “increasingly lost their ability to control themselves and there was a risk that they would drown in the lake. In fact, one guest got under water and, with luck, was able to save himself”. According to the lifeguard and paramedics, there have been no cases of almost drowning, says the organizer. According to the police report, an employee of the security service ran away from the police and disappeared into the forest. A woman is said to have wandered around under the influence of LSD. Residents from surrounding towns complained about the loud music. Several administrative offense proceedings have been initiated.
“We are not a drug festival”
And then there is the accusation that the organizers themselves were “under the influence of drugs, according to the police,” as the report says. The organizer vehemently rejects this. “I was sober throughout the festival. Neither were I nor the rest of the organizers tested for drugs or alcohol.” He reserves the right to take legal action. “A dramaturgy is built up there,” he says. “We’re not a drug festival.”
Was that escalation or normal festival madness? Perhaps comparing raw figures from other festivals that took place at the same time will help. There were two major events over the weekend: the Echelon Festival near Bad Aibling in the Rosenheim district with 30,000 visitors and Summer Breeze in Dinkelsbühl in Middle Franconia, Germany’s second largest metal festival, which attracted 45,000 people this year.
In fact, eleven appearances at a festival don’t seem so lavish in comparison. At the Echelon Festival, for example, 165 crimes and violations were recorded, 147 of which were drug-related offences. The number of visitors is also a lot higher, but up to 140 police officers are on duty on the festival grounds. Summer Breeze had a dedicated festival watch. The organizers would have welcomed the presence of the police at Lake Klausen, they say. For example, at check-in checks. “We can’t control all of 1000 people ourselves.”
According to the police, there were no assaults or sexual offenses in Klausensee. After the metal festival in Dinkelsbühl, the police investigated several sexual assaults, in one case even rape. Overall, the police headquarters in Central Franconia still draws a “positive balance.”