Protest camp on Sylt: That's what punks and activists want to achieve

Created: 08/05/2022 11:18 am

By: Dagmar Schlenz

Punks and left-wing activists have set up a protest camp on Sylt and are getting a lot of attention.

Even ex-finance minister Schäuble came by.

Westerland/Sylt – For more than two months, locals and visitors to the North Sea island of Sylt have been faced with an unusual sight: punks camp in downtown Westerland, left-wing demonstrators are moving to Kampen and recently activists have been living in a protest camp in front of the town hall in Westerland.

Even ex-Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble stopped by there to discuss with the residents, reports 24hamburg.de.

That's what the activists in the protest camp on Sylt are all about.

Protest camp on Sylt: punks and leftists demand affordable living space for everyone

Since the end of July there have been tents in the small city park in front of the Westerland town hall on Sylt.

Initially, the green area was only used by the punks as a place of retreat, since they were forbidden from wild camping on the Westerland beach.

After the new and not necessarily welcome island guests had been harassed there with controls by the Sylt regulatory office, the camp was registered by one of the residents as a protest camp.

Sylt becomes a political stage: Leftists and punks set up a protest camp in Westerland.

Even Wolfgang Schäuble came by to discuss.

© Dagmar Schlenz

In order to be recognized as a political assembly, an assembly topic and a concept had to be submitted to the competent authority.

This was initially done quite unbureaucratically: with a photo by email.

The camp residents had photographed a banner with the inscription “Affordable living space for all”.

Because that is one of the core demands of the activists in front of the town hall in Westerland.

Protest camp on Sylt: construction of more social housing

Finding affordable housing in Germany is becoming increasingly difficult.

Rents in Hamburg have risen by more than 100 percent in recent years, and more and more people can no longer afford their apartments.

The situation is particularly dramatic on the North Sea island of Sylt.

In recent years, more and more permanent living space has been converted into holiday apartments, instead of rented apartments, holiday homes or luxury resorts such as the Lanserhof Sylt are being built.

One consequence: there is an extreme shortage of staff on Sylt, restaurateurs have to introduce additional days off or close restaurants completely.

This decision was made, for example, by the Sylt veteran Jürgen Gosch, who had to close his new restaurant "Jünne" in List after a few months.

Others give up completely, like the owner of a traditional restaurant near Westerland.

The "oak" in Tinnum will be demolished in autumn 2022 - much to the regret of holidaymakers and locals.

Punks and left-wing activists have set up a protest camp in Westerland on Sylt.

They demand redistribution and affordable housing.

© Dagmar Schlenz

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Some parties and citizens' initiatives such as "Merret's Enough" are calling for a rethink on the North Sea island of Sylt - and are now receiving unexpected support from the punks and activists from the protest camp in Westerland.

Among other things, they are demanding the construction of social housing on vacant lots.

The punks briefly occupied one of these properties in the south of Westerland, but the small protest camp there was cleared on July 30, 2022.

The tenant had called the police.

Discussion with Wolfgang Schäuble in the protest camp on Sylt

After initially a group of punks came to the island to chill and party with the rich on Sylt, the summer of 2022 on Sylt is now becoming increasingly political.

In the protest camp in front of the town hall in Westerland, the activists are slowly warming up.

One of the residents, a punk nicknamed "Nimbus", had the idea of ​​inviting none other than CDU politician and former Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble to the protest camp.

Schäuble is currently on Sylt privately – the politician has been a Sylt fan for many years and regularly vacations on the celebrity island.

The former Federal Minister of Finance actually contacted the camp resident personally, as reported by the Hamburger Abendblatt.

The two made an appointment, and on August 3, 2022, Schäuble came to the discussion at the protest camp in front of Westerland town hall.

The conversation, which was attended by around 75 viewers, revolved around consumer culture and fair distribution of wealth, among other things.

Boarding Sylt and a class trip to the rich: The pictures for the demo

View photo gallery

Punks and left-wing activists for justice and redistribution

For the redistribution of wealth, the alliance "who has, who gives" had already called for a protest on the island in mid-July.

And the organizers obviously hit a nerve.

The "Luxury for All" demo on Sylt was the largest political rally that the island in the North Sea has ever experienced.

Around 400 participants peacefully moved from Westerland to Kampen to protest for the fairer distribution of wealth.

Some of the demo participants have moved into the protest camp in front of the town hall.

And also the "Action Sylt", which originally had the idea of ​​organizing a protest camp on Sylt, wants to pitch their tents in front of Nikolas Häckel's official residence.

The mayor of the municipality of Sylt is meanwhile not very enthusiastic about the interest of left-wing groups in the North Sea island.

On his Facebook page, Häckel regrets that "Sylt is currently an attractive media projection surface for such a wide range of topics - unfortunately that's not good for Sylt and for us Sylt."