Christmas markets in Germany: Employees move terror bollards in continuous use - a questionable security concept
Christmas markets in Germany: Employees move terror bollards in continuous use - a questionable security concept
Anyone who currently walks across the town hall square in Augsburg will not only see stalls, lighting and the smell of mulled wine. You also get to see the consequences of a migration policy that has failed for years. A video that has spread at lightning speed shows three security employees in yellow and blue jackets lifting a mobile steel bollard, rolling it to the side and then pushing it back exactly to its original location. A few minutes later, the same game: The next tram arrives – bollards gone, tram past – bollards back in. Again and again. Day after day.
What looks like a scene from an absurd comedy show is actually part of the official security concept for the Augsburg Christmas Market. Since Monday evening, the section of road in front of the town hall has been closed. Only trams and emergency vehicles are allowed to pass. In order not to spoil the cityscape with heavy concrete blocks, the city uses mobile Pitagone barriers – steel barriers that are intended to prevent vehicle attacks.
However, the whole thing is hardly practical: Every time a tram appears, the barriers, which weigh several tons, have to be moved manually to the side. Three employees push the steel blocks away with millimetre precision using sheer muscle power and a small pallet truck – only to reset them seconds later.
Cost factor: Bollard pushing in the five-digit range
At the request of NIUS, a spokesman for the city of Augsburg said that these barriers had already been used at other major events and were not purchased specifically for the Christmas market. They can be used flexibly – at least theoretically. In practice, personnel expenses are in the "mid-five-digit range".
Frank Pintsch (CSU), the city's public order officer, considers the procedure necessary. The barriers would be activated after the end of the delivery times and would serve to protect visitors.
Frankfurt also uses a similar system. There, too, several employees are needed to constantly open and close the barriers.
Exploding costs: Christmas markets come under pressure
The costs for city festivals and similar events have risen by an average of 44 percent in the past three years. According to the Federal Association of City and City Marketing (bcsd), 57 percent of organizers have already had to shorten or cancel their events completely.
The reasons:
- ever stricter safety requirements ,
- increasing personnel requirements
- , higher fees (e.g. GEMA, fire protection)
- expensive technical infrastructure
many city marketing organizations have long since stopped being in the black. The majority even have to contribute their own money.
"Counter-terrorism is the task of the state" – but municipalities are left with the costs
bcsd boss Gerold Leppa warns:
Responsibility is increasingly being handed over from the state level downwards to cities and organizers – including costs for bollards, barriers and security logistics.
Responsibility is increasingly being handed over from the state level downwards to cities and organizers – including costs for bollards, barriers and security logistics.
In addition, there is economic pressure: sponsors jump ship, dealer associations can help out less and less, and municipalities themselves are often at the financial limit.
If both sponsors and cities fail, the system of public events simply collapses.
Christmas markets will take place in 2025 - but the problems remain
According to the German Showmen's Association, there are only a few cancellations this year. But that is no reason to give the all-clear. The situation remains fragile – especially after the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market last year, in which six people died and over 300 were injured. There, this year's market was initially completely prohibited and was only approved after long negotiations, additional measures and new safety requirements.
The case clearly shows that
the public expectation is that organizers take responsibility – even in the event of terrorist attacks. Leppa calls this a dangerous development and a reversal of responsibilities.
the public expectation is that organizers take responsibility – even in the event of terrorist attacks. Leppa calls this a dangerous development and a reversal of responsibilities.
Core message of the City Marketing Association Organizers
- are responsible for escape routes, medical service and organizational security.
- Counter-terrorism, on the other hand, is the task of the state – and not of the municipalities or volunteer festival organizers.
Author: MF-Redaktion
Sources: Reuters / News-English
