By Laura Meinfelder
A culinary journey around the world – garnished with homophobic insults and the threat of a beating! This is what happened to a visitor to this year’s “Green Week” agricultural and gourmet fair in Berlin.
Student Niclas T. (25) from Thuringia was strolling through the theme worlds with his partner and friends on Friday when he was suddenly said to have been insulted in a homophobic manner by another group of visitors in a hall. The drunken men are said to have harassed him with derogatory terms.
Furthermore: One of the men is said to have stormed the 25-year-old and shouted the words “I’ll bomb you, you fag!” The attacker was just held back by another visitor, as Niclas reports.
“I was just being myself and walking around there with my group when suddenly they started insulting me,” the student explained. “After the incident, I sought help from employees of the fair and also spoke to several. But they didn’t take me seriously. One even downplayed the dangerous situation and told me to just listen.”
Even a security employee, whom he finally found, did not help him. There was nothing he could do himself, he explained, and calling the police would take a very long time. An employee at an information stand then recommended that Niclas simply write an e-mail and describe the incident.
The aggressive group meanwhile moved on – unhindered and without consequences. Just as if hatred and insults were acceptable behavior at one of the most famous trade fair events in Germany.
“For me, the security staff completely failed. No one pointed me to the local police station or other possible sources of help. I only found out about it on the internet afterwards,” explains Niclas.
Trade fair spokeswoman Christine Franke on BZ: “We use sufficiently trained security personnel. Our security service provider is increasingly relying on female staff and provides targeted training on topics such as ‘violence against women and minorities’.”
The student replies: “At that moment I was representing a minority and I wasn’t given the feeling that I was understood. I was insulted and threatened, but the security didn’t respond to me.”
Serious allegations against Green Week security staff. However, the 25-year-old has filed a complaint. As recommended, he also sent an email to the organizers of the fair. The answer to this: “We will pass the information on to those responsible in order to further raise awareness”.