IMAGO / epd
A Volksbad event planned for this evening has been cancelled after it became the “target of right-wing and racist hate speech”, according to a statement from the Volksbühne theatre. The event would have opened the Volksbad exclusively to Black children and teenagers for a few hours.
The event was planned in association with the Each One Teach One (Eoto) e.V. group, who are a community-based education and empowerment organisation, as well as a place of learning for people of African descent.
The Eoto group released a statement on their website on Thursday afternoon about the cancelled event: “Since the public discussion about the event began, we have received racist threatening emails, threats of violence and discriminatory comments on social media. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility that the children and teenagers would be exposed to further dangers that day.”
According to artistic director Matthias Lilienthal, an alternative event is planned for the Black children and young people – though not on Friday. “We will continue working with Eoto, we will continue our events, and we will also come up with an activity for these children and young people.” Lilienthal argued that the event was simply implementing Berlin’s anti-discrimination law, which mandates protected spaces for people who have experienced discrimination.