Alternative for Germany (AfD), the country’s main far-right party, have got Berghain in their sights.
Left Party district councillor Maximilian Schirmer shared a letter to Twitter on Wednesday evening (18 April) signed by AfD’s Sibylle Schmidt.
The letter asks for opening hours to be slashed to 10pm (CEST) to 6am (CEST), destroying the open-ended weekend running time that the club is famed for. According to the Berliner Morgenpost, the party – which is infamous for their anti-immigrant and anti-Islam ideals, as well as their growing popularity – want to dial back the hedonism, stipulating that club-goers experience “a drug-free visit taking into account a natural biorhythm”.
Unsurprisingly, the AfD want to crack down on sexual acts in the venue by implementing “appropriate lighting and personnel”. Read the full translation of the letter by Pulse below.
Die #AfD möchte in #Berlin das #Berghain schließen lassen und den Darkroom ausleuchten! Na jetzt verscherzen sie es sich endgültig mit allen unter 40. #friedrichshain #Kreuzberg #techno pic.twitter.com/wQ7hkwtxLF
— Maximilian Schirmer (@MaxMenkenke) April 18, 2018
For years, violations of restaurant regulations have taken place in Berghain. Drugs of all kinds – especially amphetamines that keep awake – are consumed and can be easily acquired. Continuous opening hours virtually demand the use of substances that keep awake. In the surrounding hospitals, young women and men are admitted who lose control over chemical substances and are sometimes abused. As early as 2010, several AIDS infections were discussed during a tour with city councillor Beckers. (For a possible hearing, a doctor of the gynaecological department of Vivantes at Friedrichshain could be invited). An American tourist, who already had signs of poisoning, was allowed medical help too late. She died.
A restaurant has to serve its customers carefully and to pay attention to their safety. A music club has permission to fund an attractive program through entrance fees and the clean and proper sale of drinks. This is quite possible in the Berghain if people willing to pay were not selected by unintelligent, unsightly busybodies. A supposed underdog image overriding sophisticated laws allows the club a significant competitive advantage over its competitors. It is the responsibility of operators to obtain tuition in process organisation and music programs in famous, functioning clubs, for example in Manchester, London, Rio or Sardinia. It is the task of the district office, Inexperienced guests and Berlin visitors to protect against irresponsible and dangerous enterprises. The House of Representatives is called upon to lower the self-consumption limit of drugs to zero grams. An avoidable death with several responsible persons. The development was to be anticipated.
