The club combine – an association of Hamburg clubs, bars and pubs with around 170 members – has demanded an end to the ban on dancing on Good Friday and complained about excessively tough controls. “The club combine considers a general ban on dancing, regardless of whether people are disturbed in their religious practice, to be disproportionate,” said board member Claudia Mohr on Friday.
Culture Senator Carsten Brosda reacted to the demand on Good Friday: “The ban on dancing does indeed seem outdated. We will have to come to a political agreement as to whether it really still suits an open and diverse society.” Good Friday is of course a high holiday for Christians, according to the SPD politician. “But you can also preserve the dignity of this day and still leave it up to everyone to decide whether they want to celebrate or experience culture or not.”
Clubcombinat board member Mohr continued: “It is not the task of the state to assert the interests of a religious community and to make suggestions or regulations to the people of Hamburg on how to organize their free time – not even on a single day a year.”
According to the club combine, the city has had music clubs in the Altona and Mitte districts closed for the first time in 20 years on the basis of the Easter dance ban under threat of fines. “We suspect a coordinated action against the clubs – without any warning,” complained Mohr. Since 1957, no events that do not preserve the serious character of the day have been allowed to take place on Good Friday between 2 a.m. and 2 a.m. the following day.
For the first time since 2003 – at that time under Interior Senator Ronald Schill – this ban is now being actively controlled again and by the police in Club Uebel, among other places
