German punks ‘invade’ elite holiday island for third year in a row to protest fascism and racism

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A punk activist group have set up camp on a German holiday island popular with wealthy holidaymakers to protest against economic exclusion and racism.

The Aktion Sylt group announced action for the summer from last weekend (22 July) to 1 September as “the fight for justice for Sylt and its residents continues”.

“World Heritage Site “Punks on Sylt” is only our first goal on the way to making safe havens for fascist subsidy collectors, tax-evading Nazi heirs and eternally yesterday’s world destroyers a thing of the past!” wrote the leftwing group.

Sylt, known as a seasonal summer playground for upper-class Germans, is accessible by a causeway to the mainland.

It is the third annual protest against gentrification and rent prices on the island of “the rich and the beautiful” and calls for a “rethink” of social and climate policies in Sylt.

The anti-capitalist initiative has been pitching up the protest camp – this year in Tinnum festival meadow – since 2022 and expects to welcome 300 activists to the campsite near the island’s airport this year.

The camp and its cultural events are financed through donations, this year with a stage and readings from Marco Höne, a union secretary, of his book Rich and Ugly.

Since June, the group say “racist scenes” on Sylt have increased attacks on refugees and asylum seekers after a clip of Germans chanting the Nazi slogan “Germany for the Germans – foreigners out” in a nightclub went viral.

The campsite is registered with the authorities, who require residents to sleep in tents, use chemical toilets and tidy up after themselves until the site is closed at the start of September, reports The Guardian.

In previous years, protesters have clashed with local officials over noise levels and litter on the campsite.

Florian Korte, a Sylt administration spokesperson, told the news agency dpa: “We assume the protest camps will remain peaceful.

“The talks with the police, the North Frisia district and the regulatory authorities have been very constructive.”

For more travel news and advice listen to Simon Calder’s podcast.