Dancing dispute in Bonn City administration seeks solution for Salsa dancers
Bonn · Following the scandal surrounding a salsa group in Bonn, where the initiator was detained by the police for several hours, a meeting between the city council and the dancers is now on the agenda.
In the controversy over the salsa dance group, which until a month ago met in front of the Academic Art Museum in the Hofgarten, the City of Bonn and the group initiators now want to meet to talk. The dancers had last met to dance at the Alte Zoll because of a construction site at the art museum, but the public order office forced them to move on. leading to a scandal.
Initiator Ali Aldelfi was arrested during the dispute between the dancers and the police and detained for several hours at police headquarters. The 29-year-old, who had fled from Iraq to Germany in 2015, had refused to obey a police order to leave. Aldelfi and one of the dancers, Cologne lawyer Christoph Ebert, subsequently turned to the GA and complained that they could not understand why they were not allowed to dance with the group there. The two men stressed that it was not a commercial event but a private gathering that had always been arranged via Facebook in the group "Salsa Bachata y más Bonn".
Usually between 50 and 60, but sometimes more than 100 people, come to the event, Adelfi says, and they were not the only ones outraged. Many GA readers and internet users, too, called for action to be taken.
One of them is Daniel Kraft, spokesperson for the Federal Agency for Civic Education (BpB), which is based in Adenauerallee. "Vibrant public spaces are spaces for democracy. Do we really want to live in a city where everything only 'happens' in private or for money? I think not, we need many more public, non-commercial, lively and car-free spaces where people from very different lifestyles and social worlds come together. And yes, dance! What would Buenos Aires be without tango in the streets and squares!" he writes.
And Stefan Klandt from Endenich, who runs the Tanzplatte in Beuel, wonders on Facebook whether "50 people dancing compared with 200 people in the beer garden and 200 students gathered on the lawn is already an 'abuse of public space'?" He thinks it's a pity that Bonn can't manage what so many other cities have: dance spaces where people from all social classes can come together to have fun - without admission and free of charge.
Much criticism of the city
Laila Ismael has written to the GA: "As someone who dances in Bonn, Cologne and Düsseldorf, I am so frustrated with the city of Bonn. It’s the only place we ever have unwarranted trouble with the public order office. They obviously invented the law 'dancing in public prohibited' themselves."
In a letter to the GA, former SPD member of parliament Hans Wallow (82) also reacted with outrage at the actions of Bonn's public order officers. He does not mince his words: "It is hard to believe: A voluntary group has been meeting for years to dance in public spaces and suddenly the narrow-minded bureaucrats of the city administration get involved. Although no one was specifically disturbed, dancers are chased away and the organiser is even taken into custody."
Even Lord Mayor Katja Dörner (Greens) commented on the GA's coverage of the case on Facebook. "I am clarifying with the public order office what happened there," she writes. This has since been done, as Vice City Spokesperson Marc Hoffmann informs: "Mayor Dörner has been informed in detail by the responsible department about the facts of the case. The aim of the city administration is to find a good solution together with the organiser."
A Poppelsdorf dance school is also affected
When asked why other dance groups, such as that of a dance school owner in Poppelsdorf, have been allowed to dance at the Alter Zoll so far apparently unhindered by the public order office, Hoffmann explained: "The city administration has asked the dance school owner not to make this offer any longer for the time being. Here, too, the city administration is in talks for an amicable solution."
The conversation with Aldelfi and Ebert is to take place next week, the Cologne resident told the GA. "I'm considering whether we shouldn't also ask the Lord Mayor to join us."
This Saturday, Aldelfi and his dance friends want to organise a dance demo on Martinsplatz from 12.30 to 3 p.m. (Note: There has been a change of location: originally the dance demo was to take place on Friedensplatz). The dance demo has been approved by the city, he said. "It will be a very nice and peaceful demo with 300 participants," the 29-year-old writes.
Wallow, who was injured in an attack in his flat in Bonn three years ago, announced that he and his InternationalGlobalClub Bonn would support the dancers in their demo on Saturday. The Social Democrat also called on the city of Bonn to ask the group to organise a multicultural dance festival on United Nations Square.
(Original text: Lisa Inhoffen; Translation: Jean Lennox)
