9/15/15, "Weary of refugees, Munich gears up for Oktoberfest," Reuters UK, Noah Barkin, Munich
"The annual festival, known here as the "Wiesn" because it is held on the Theresienwiese, an open space near the city centre, is a fun-loving celebration where 7.5 million litres of brew are consumed over a two-week period by locals and tourists alike, many decked out in traditional lederhosen and dirndls....
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann raised eyebrows at the weekend by suggesting that refugees descending from trains in Munich, after harrowing journeys from the war-torn Middle East, were likely to encounter crowds of violent drunks returning from the festival, which starts on Saturday.
"Refugees from Muslim countries may not be used to seeing extremely drunk people in public," Herrmann said. "It might seem a bit odd to some of them, if I may say so, but this is the reality."...
Herrmann's boss, state premier Horst Seehofer, has been vilified on social media for suggesting that one reason he pressed Chancellor Angela Merkel to impose the controls was so Oktoberfest could go on without a hitch. His comments sparked a new hashtag #Oktoberfestung (October fortress) on Twitter.
At a news conference on Tuesday, police and city officials played down the link between the border crackdown and the annual festival. The measures, announced on Sunday, prompted other countries to follow suit, raising questions about the future of the bloc's 20-year old frontier-free Schengen zone.
"We see a clear separation between the Oktoberfest and the situation in the train station, with the refugee crisis," said Wilfried Blume-Beyerle, a city official.
A tent camp for migrants lies just two kilometres from the Theresienwiese, where the Oktoberfest has been held since 1810 -- minus breaks for the two world wars -- in honour of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig's marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
But the camp is only used as a first daytime stop for refugees arriving in Munich and none are sleeping there....
Muslims may think twice about going because of the free-flowing alcohol and pork dishes -- an estimated 60,000 Schweinshaxen, or pig's knuckles, will be consumed during the festival, along with half a million roast chickens and 100 oxen....
City officials said they saw [no] reason to cancel the Oktoberfest because of the suffering of the refugees, many of whom are risking their lives to get to Europe."...
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Added: A few days earlier a petition had started asking the Munich City Council to ban Oktoberfest as Anti-Islamic:
Sept. 11, 2015, "Ban the Intolerant and Anti-Islamic event of Oktoberfest," change.org
"Dear City council of Munich,
"I am writing this letter to bring to your attention something that I and many Muslims believe is unfair and requires attention. I would like to inform you that the Oktoberfest is an Intolerant and Anti-Islamic event. We tried to ignore the event, but there too many Un-Islamic acts done at the Oktoberfest. Such as alcohol consumption, public nudity etc.
We understand that the Oktoberfest is a yearly German tradition, but we, Muslims, can not tolerate this Un-Islamic event, because it offends us and all Muslims on the earth.
We are requesting the immediate cancellation of the upcoming Oktoberfest event.
We also believe that the Oktoberfest might also offend all the Muslim refugees coming from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan. The cancellation of the Oktoberfest event will help refugees not to forget their Islamic history. Thank you for your attention to this matter."
Sincerely,
Morad Almuradi" via DebbieSchlussel.com
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Comment: Mass suicide is easy. Just drink the Kool Aid as they did in 1978, Jonestown, Guyana:
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