After Foreigners Banned From Swiss Pool, Season Ticket Sales Surge And Police Incidents Stop

Gulf Insider

4 days ago

After all foreigners were banned from a Swiss swimming pool in Porrentruy over violence, sexual harassment and constant disturbances, Swiss visitors to the pool and employees are generally expressing happiness with the move.
The ban, which came about after 'French youths with a migration background' continuously caused problems at the pool and in pool bathrooms, including sexual harassment of young girls. The situation even sparked international headlines.
However, the Swiss paper 20 Minuten reported a surge in season ticket sales after the ban was put in place.
'It went very well. Citizens have rediscovered the bathing establishment with the peace and quiet that comes with it,' said Lionel Maître, the municipal councilor for tourism and leisure in Porrentruy. 'We have seen an increase in season ticket sales as citizens have finally regained the long-awaited sense of security. There have been no problems and no new bathing bans since then.'
Maître said that it had become increasingly noticeable that the perpetrators had Arabic names.
Apollo News also reported that the need for security has suddenly disappeared since the ban on foreigners.
'People were climbing over the fence. They didn't respect us – not even the security guards,' said Luna Lando, a lifeguard at the Porrentruy outdoor pool. She said her daily routine is now transformed.
'It's much quieter now,' said Luna in an interview. 'There's no need for security anymore.'
'We wouldn't have been able to come here anymore if the measures hadn't been introduced,' Vieira da Silva Aurelie, a swimming instructor from another pool in Switzerland, told German newspaper Welt.
According to Welt, there were repeated thefts at the location, women were whistled at, and boys and men touched girls inappropriately. One mother stated she had forbidden her daughter from visiting the pool due to safety fears.
Even Bild sent a reporter to the pool to cover the reaction to the ban, highlighting just how far-reaching the story has become.
Before the ban, the pool itself had already issued 20 'house bans' on specific individuals from entering the pool area, but this proved insufficient to keep the peace. The problem? The pool is located only a few kilometers from the French border and the city of Belfort. Although the town itself is described as a classic Swiss village, complete with rolling hills filled with grazing cows, the suburbs of Belfort feature troubled foreign youth who consistently cause problems in the neighboring Swiss village.
One 17-year-old student, Alexi, told Bild it is now quiet and thefts have ended.
'It's better this way. Sometimes we Swiss couldn't get in at all. Now, it's quieter, you can swim and there are no more thefts, it couldn't go on like this, that we Swiss couldn't go into our own swimming pool anymore,' he said.A 68-year-old pensioner, Chantalle, agreed, saying: 'There were a lot of problems with 15-year-olds that caused stress. The police were there almost every day.'
Foreigners can still enter the pool, but only if they have a work permit in Switzerland or if they are guests at a local hotel that provides pool cards to its guests. However, they have to pay double the price as Swiss citizens, which also serves to restrict the number of foreign guests.
Although the ban targets all foreigners, Bild indicates the true target was the French youths who ruined the peaceful atmosphere at the pool and participated in various crimes.
A 51-year-old teacher, Melanie (51), told Bild: 'The problem is that people are simply afraid of large groups that don't follow the rules in the swimming pool. They come from the suburbs of Belfort in France. These are people who cause problems there, too. Of course, that's a shame for everyone else who can't get in anymore, who aren't criminals.'
However, a cleaning specialist, 38-year-old Said, who has a migrant background, said: 'This discriminates against our families. They're stereotyping all the French now. This is a minority that has sometimes made a bit of a splash here. That's not good. I've been here a lot, and I've never experienced much stress here.'
One Swiss woman, Marie, said she did not like the ban. 'I go to the swimming pool every day and regret the decision. I saw a lot of French people here and never noticed any problems. I think the decision was made because it was often very crowded here. Maybe too crowded. But you shouldn't solve this problem like that,' she told Bild.
However, the police in Porrentruy tell a different story, telling Bild that since the start of the season in mid-May, they have been called to the pool several times, including in instances where they had to come 'sometimes two or three times an hour.'
There were no criminal complaints ever recorded, only oral complaints. But since the ban came into place, the police have not been called once, although it has only been in place for a short time.
The police would not comment on allegations from the community that French migrant youth were harassing girls. 'We're not allowed to talk about it.' He told the reporter that the media attention to the subject had grown too large, and there were efforts to 'muzzle the community.'
The reality is that German newspapers are so interested in this swimming ban due to the crisis at German swimming pools, which have seen young girls sexually assaulted and harassed in large numbers over the years. In addition, thefts, assaults, and general disorder have been prevalent, as Remix News has reported numerous times.
However, while some swimming pools with the unique issue seen in Porrentruy could implement such a ban on foreigners, the widespread issue seen in Germany will not vanish with such a ban. This is due to the fact that the crime and harassment problem presented by foreigners is coming from those who live in the cities and towns already, not from outsiders.
In many cases, these are youths born to foreign parents, and many of them already have German citizenship.
However, an end to the problems involving swimming pools would mean fewer security staff are required, which would lower ticket prices and contribute to a peaceful and relaxed atmosphere within swimming pools. In addition, the appearance of police crisis teams at swimming pools, such as seen in Berlin, would also disappear. Police would then be freed up to handle crime in other areas of the cities of Germany.
Only fundamental changes at the federal level in regards to immigration and crime enforcement will make European swimming pools peaceful and family-friendly places once again.