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Edited by Mrph1 on Jan 9th 2024 at 3:24:05 PM
A French woman was beaten up for sunbathing in a bikini in a park
. The plot gets more convoluted from there, to say the least.
A hashtag can run around the world before the truth has got its boots on?
edited 29th Jul '15 4:08:48 AM by 3of4
"You can reply to this Message!"
Would you mind if I quoted that someday?
'Nazis secretly eat falafel': German town's pro-refugee posters
The messages were a mixture of serious and tongue-in-cheek, written in both English and German: "Refugees welcome", "Nobody is illegal" and "Nazis secretly eat falafel". They were posted by an anti-racist campaigner who runs a Facebook page called Dies Irae, which translates as Day of Wrath.
The words were intended as messages of support for the refugees who have been housed in the area, which witnessed high-profile demonstrations by far-right groups earlier this month. That was part of the reason it was selected by the activist, who does not live in the town. "Nobody would notice if you posted these in [a big city like] Dresden," he tells BBC Trending, "but if you take action in a small town like Freital, they get attention." He declined to give his name, saying he feared reprisals from far-right groups.
The posters themselves, hung last week, lasted less than a day before being removed, but the images have garnered much more attention online. Collectively they have been liked and shared more than 80,000 times on Facebook, and spawned a debate about the stunt.
"But illegal immigration is a crime," wrote one, in response to one of the posters. Others called the campaign "stupid", motivated by the activist's sense of superiority. And others took issue with the image of a refugee family, claiming the majority of new residents were men under 25. But most posts appeared to be supportive. "Very good," and "We should make T-shirts out of these [designs]," read two comments.
The activist behind Dies Irae describes himself as an "adbuster". "I'm trying to reclaim the streets by putting useful posters in the public sphere - that's what it's for. It's not for big corporations to sell us products that we don't need," he says. He and fellow activists have routinely defaced adverts in other parts of Germany - usually in an attempt to satirise consumer culture.
Freital has seen increasingly heated anti-refugee demonstrations and outbreaks of violence in recent months, since it was announced that 280 refugees would be housed in a former hotel in the town.
Kos migrants: Chaos amid Greek registration attempt
Authorities are struggling with a rapidly growing number of migrants who have arrived hoping for a better life. Many migrants and refugees have been camping alongside roads and beaches on the Aegean island, a popular tourist destination. But an attempt relocate hundreds of people to a stadium for registration on Tuesday degenerated into chaos, with scuffles breaking out in the long queues.
"The situation on the island is out of control," Kos mayor Giorgos Kiritsis told the Greek news agency ANA. "There is a real danger that blood will be shed."
Greek police say 156,726 migrants were arrested for entering or remaining in the country illegally from January to July 2015, compared with 32,070 for the same months in 2014.
Meanwhile the local coastguard said it had rescued 329 migrants in seven separate incidents off the coast of Lesbos and Kos in the 24 hours from Monday morning, according to AP. The islands are several miles from the Turkish coast, and for many migrants the quickest and easiest route into the EU.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said Greece cannot cope with the influx of arrivals, and that his country's economic problems mean it is facing a humanitarian "crisis within a crisis".
EU Immigration Crisis: German Police Want Border Controls In Europe To Address Migrant Flow
Traveling among 22 Eurozone countries and the handful of non-EU states currently does not require a passport. That zone, known as the Shengen Area, was established in 1995. Countries within that area have reinstituted border controls temporarily in certain instances, like high-profile visits from foreign heads of state or from a figure like the pope.
"From a policing point of view, a return to border controls would be the best of all measures," said Rainer Wendt, the chairman of the German Police Union. "Germany should not take the threat of bringing back [border] controls off the table too readily." Police have already ramped up security checks along some inter-European train lines, highways and at international airports.
Germany, with its strong economy, has been a particularly attractive landing spot for asylum seekers driven from their homes by violence and unrest. The country is known for being promigrant; however, there has been a push to improve checks and screenings to evaluate who coming in can best assimilate into its advanced economy. The country and police union also are interested in making sure those who are in actual need of political asylum are able to get it while barring foreign nationals not in danger.
The number of asylum-seekers entering Germany is expected to top 500,000 this year. Syria has been the biggest source as a result of its bloody civil war and the violent upheaval caused by the Islamic State group. Other major sources of asylum-seekers into Germany have been Balkan countries like Kosovo, Albania and Serbia. The prospects of receiving political asylum in Germany are better for Syrian refugees than those coming from the Balkans.
Its just the Police Union making some noise, not any government body. Just another interest group, didn't apparently even make the german speaking news pages. Its more "what makes life for our people easier" than anything else, ie score pointing.
So yeah, nod politely and ignore for now.
edited 11th Aug '15 3:19:55 PM by 3of4
"You can reply to this Message!"Angela Merkel and François Hollande meet to tackle Europe's migrant crisis :
It is about time that the EU manages to get a collective response regarding the refugee crisis.
May I ask, how competent is the Governmentnote seen in Germany? How many projects actually succeed without controversy, on time and/or on budget? Or in other words, how correct is Germany's image of Germanic Efficiency?
Keep Rolling On"Alternativlos" (a word often used by Merkel, meaning "without an alternative") has actually become a good synonym for our political situation: Our two largest parties are in a coalition, with the SPD neglecting (again) their core voters. The FDP became a minority party after their coalition with the CDU; the Greens lost some of their political core goals (no nuclear power) to the CDU, the Left suffers from a mix of character assassination and radical idiots being part of the party on the federal level and the Pirates and Af D self-destructed.
To be honest, I'd be surprised if we'll get a ruling coalition within the next decade that isn't led by Merkel. It's more likely that the next few elections will be "Merkel stays chancellor and gets to choose her new junior partner".
edited 1st Sep '15 2:56:53 AM by DrunkenNordmann
We learn from history that we do not learn from historyI like to describe myself as "I'm a natural Social Democratic Voter, I just don't have a Social Democratic Party to vote for."
Especially to SPD people when they are doing advertising in the city
Which is the core issue we have at the problem :/
Also, nitpick, the Pirates didn't self-destruct, they sunk during a hostile boarding attempt from the Antifa
(just to keep with nautical themes here)
edited 1st Sep '15 3:57:21 AM by 3of4
"You can reply to this Message!"
So the Pirates were hijacked by the leftist radicals and the Af D was hijacked by right-wing radicals.
Lovely.
And in regard to the SPD: The probably only competent and popular politician they have who has a chance to become chancellor doesn't want to leave NRW. Kraft seems to have more integrity than the federal SPD leadership.
When does the party base finally ditch Gabriel and vote for a party leader who actually IS a social democrat?
edited 1st Sep '15 7:11:54 AM by DrunkenNordmann
We learn from history that we do not learn from history
I wouldn't describe Merkel as left or right. "Centre" or "whatever gets me elected" fits her more. Note her 180° turn on nuclear plants post-Fukushima. Her only fixed positions are "Transatlantic Friendship" and her support of the EU.
Though I remember the right wing of the CDU being somewhat annoyed by her politics a few years ago.
edited 1st Sep '15 7:25:03 AM by DrunkenNordmann
We learn from history that we do not learn from history
I always liked what Volker Pispers said about her when she was first elected.
(Paraphrased)
"She isn't so bad at it."
"What does she even do?"
"No idea, but she isn't so bad at it."
She's also very good at getting rid of potential rivals. The German term for what Merkel does to rivals is "das Vertrauen aussprechen".
edited 1st Sep '15 7:28:04 AM by DrunkenNordmann
We learn from history that we do not learn from history

Latest about the Refugee Crisis: Man dies as 1,500 migrants try to enter Channel tunnel
Over 2,000 people tried to get into the terminal on Monday night. The man who died on Tuesday night was Sudanese, aged between 25 and 30, according to the France Info website. He is said to have been hit by a lorry.
Eight immigrants have apparently died so far this summer.
A spokesman for Eurotunnel - which manages and operate Channel Tunnel services - said migrant incursions were now "an almost nightly occurrence". It is an issue for the government to "sort out", the spokesman said. "We need them to stop the migrant flow from Calais but it appears to be too much for them to handle," he added.