Monday June 17, 2024

Video of racist chanting at upscale German resort prompts outrage

Published : 24 May 2024, 23:15

  DF News Desk
An old American school bus is used as a bar next to the "Pony" restaurant in Strönwai street in the center of Kampen. File Photo: Axel Heimken/dpa.

A video shared online of young Germans chanting racist anti-immigrant slogans outside a pub on the North Sea island of Sylt has sparked outrage in the country, reported dpa.

The group chanted "foreigners out!" and "Germany for Germans" as the hit party song "L'amour Toujours" by Gigi D'Agostino played at a pub in the resort town of Kampen, a destination popular with wealthy German holidaymakers.

In the recording, which is only a few seconds long and has been going viral on social media since Thursday, young men and women shout the racist slogans while laughing. One man appears to indicate a Hitler moustache with his fingers on his upper lip.

Local police announced an investigation. The use of Nazi slogans or symbols, as well as other types of hate speech, is illegal under German law.

"A video of people celebrating on Sylt is currently circulating on social media. We are aware of this video and are examining it for criminally relevant content," police said in a post to X on Friday. "We would like to thank you for the numerous tips, which we have forwarded to the relevant authorities."

It is not the first incident of this kind involving the song in Germany. Authorities in several German states are investigating similar incidents of racist chanting to the song.