German police cracking down on “foreigners out” chant as public turns against mass illegal immigration
By isabelle // 2024-07-01
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As Germans become increasingly unhappy about the number of crimes being committed by foreign people there, the government has been trying to curb opposition to immigration. In one recent incident, however, police who went to investigate reports of people singing a banned song were surprised when they saw the “culprits.” In Germany, police have been increasingly deployed in “operations” to address instances of people singing a song that has become associated with nationalism. This trend has seen mostly young people singing the phrase “Foreigners out, Germany for the Germans” to the beat of a popular electronic song by Gigi D’Agostino known as “L’amour toujours.” The slogan was used by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and is illegal in Germany. However, when police were called out to a birthday party in Rhineland-Palatinate, they discovered that the people singing the song calling for foreign people to leave the country were actually foreigners themselves, speaking only Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Romanian. A representative of the police department that responded said: “What is remarkable in this context is that the women were all non-German nationals and only one woman had any significant knowledge of German.” In this case, the individuals involved were only singing the song because they had heard it on social media. They said they did not know that people who sing it are facing criminal prosecution in Germany right now. That’s right – some of Germany’s top politicians have demanded that people who sing the song face the “maximum penalty." One of the earliest incidents involving the "foreigners out" chant was a harvest festival in 2023 in the German city of Bergholz. However, there have been numerous other high-profile incidents involving the song since then. In one incident that has been getting a lot of press, video footage circulating online showed a group of people at a party on the terrace of the Pony club on the elite party island of Sylt singing the version of the song with the offensive lyrics. This resulted in a number of lawsuits, including the owners of the club potentially suing the culprits for economic and reputational damage after a major sponsor decided to sever ties with them. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser directed Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution to launch an investigation into the people involved in the video for suspicion of incitement. Many of those who appeared in the video were doxxed and several lost their jobs as a result; the club has also issued them a lifetime ban. Faeser said: “The question is whether we are dealing with people who live in a parallel society who are neglectful due to their affluence and trample on the values of our constitution. “Anyone who shouts Nazi slogans, like ‘Germany for the Germans, foreigners out’, is a disgrace for Germany,” she added. Bundestag President Barbel Bas called for the partygoers in the video to receive a harsh punishment, “perhaps even the maximum penalty.” Depending on the specific charge, this could be five years in prison.

Police seem more concerned about chants and slogans than violent crimes

Hungarian soccer fans reportedly chanted the song during this week's European football championship match between Germany and Hungary in Stuttgart. It is not known whether the fans are facing a criminal investigation. The managers of the world-famous Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich have said that they will be banning the song from being played there, with Clemens Baumgartner telling German media: “We want to ban it and we will ban it. There is no place for all that right-wing crap at the Oktoberfest.” Many people in Germany are frustrated by the unprecedented levels of crime being committed by foreigners and the fact that many of these foreign perpetrators do not face deportation or serious prison sentences. And the fact that the government seems far more interested in pursuing its own citizens who sing a song at parties than the immigrants who are physically attacking, raping and killing people is only making matters worse. Sources for this article include: RMX.news TheGuardian.com RMX.news
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