There is still a state of emergency on Sylt: punks sometimes cause chaos on the island. Business owners suffer the most – the community now relies on a security service, among other things.
Even before the nine-euro ticket went on sale, there was great concern on Sylt: restaurateurs, business owners and residents of the North Sea island feared that the cheap local transport would lead to a huge rush of visitors. Some punks promptly announced that they wanted to make the island unsafe. And indeed: after almost a month of nine-euro tickets, there is a state of emergency on Sylt.
The dissatisfaction is particularly great among those for whom Sylt is not just a vacation spot, but their home. Business people in particular expressed their anger at a residents’ question and answer session as part of a main committee meeting in Westerland. The main committee of the Sylt municipality has therefore decided on new measures to get the chaotic situation on the island under control again.
Sylt: A security service should ensure order
According to the “Hamburger Abendblatt”, mobile toilets are to be set up for the punks and the homeless. A security service is said to be patrolling the city center between 1 p.m. and 1 a.m. So far, city pilots, who were originally responsible for monitoring the corona measures, were supposed to ensure security. But they were noticeably overwhelmed. Eventually, the municipality plans to hire a street worker to engage in conversation with visitors on the street.
The situation around the “Dicke Wilhelmine” is particularly critical: punks and homeless people gather at the fountain in the city center – and drive the operators of the surrounding shops to despair. “They camp everywhere,” quotes the “Hamburger Abendblatt” from a retailer who, according to her own statement, has to wake up uninvited guests “every day” at the entrance to her shop.
Mayor hopes for help from Kiel
Previous measures have not brought the hoped-for relaxation. Concrete blocks were stacked on top of each other in front of a passage from Wilhelmstrasse to prevent the nine-euro ticket guests from constantly urinating there. Now the problem seems to have been solved, but the operators of the shops complain that the paths to their shops are blocked at least on one side. So some of the customers stay away. “We’re at our wit’s end. We all can’t make any money like this,” said a trader.
The coming weeks will show whether the new measures bear fruit. “The situation in the city center and on the beach is dynamic – we always adapt our various measures to the current situation,” explained Mayor Nikolas Häckel. “Order office, security service and police are present and make full use of their respective legal framework – that’s not always easy, since the legal requirements for regulatory measures are often very high.”
A ban on alcohol, for example, cannot be legally implemented. Mayor Häckel has already requested help from the Schleswig-Holstein state government in Kiel, but is still waiting for an answer. In the meantime, people on Sylt are longing for August 31st. Then the nine-euro ticket ends.
Sources: “Hamburger Abendblatt” / “Business Insider” / “T-Online” / Nikolas Häckel on Facebook
