Not again! The plans for Father Rhine – from cableways to lighthouses
It is summer and it is (mostly) hot. And the heat is fruitful in foolish ideas. Old Father Rhine was subjected to many of them already: water slides, lighthouses – and now a cableway. It did exist in the past – but only for one event. And we hope that it will remain so. One essential feature of a pleasure society is a penchant for hedonism and mass consumption. This sort of society is wasteful, wants everything for free, and seeks the largest entertainment value.
Therefore, a Rhine which you can float down on a swimming bag or that you can cross in a little ferry is not enough. No, it needs to be exciting and sexy – and with as little sense as possible. This summer, a Green Liberal politician has reanimated the idea of a cableway across the Rhine. It should lead from Grossbasel to Kleinbasel and vice-versa. Wow, you might think; what a grand cable car ride, what a view. And what nonsense.
Controls on Anarchy Express, encircled in Hamburg: Basel demonstrators have returned from Hamburg
Around 250 anti-G20 demonstrators from Switzerland went through being searched, were delayed when leaving the Badischer Bahnhof, and endured a 14-hour round trip to Hamburg. This was the experience of the protestors who travelled on the "Anarchy Express" which was commissioned to take them to the city where the G20 Summit between world leaders was held over the weekend.
Why did these Baslers subject themselves to all this – and what was the end result? “I am concerned about global warming. I don’t really follow a specific political goal,” a 24-year-old, who gave her name as Ramona, told barfi.ch on request.
The Basel student said that the searches at the Badischer Bahnhof had been "quite intense," and she did not understand why the Basel police had helped the German police with “this chicanery”. “My documents are in order and I never committed any crime," she said. "But one single scarf was enough for the German border guards to search everything more thoroughly.”
Violence at German border town: Police launch investigation after injuries
The police were called to a brawl outside a nightclub in Lörrach at the weekend, which resulted in three people being injured.
The fight broke out on the street in the early hours of Sunday morning following a row between two men inside the club.
A bouncer took one of the men outside and was then allegedly attacked by him. The bouncer then allegedly hit the man with a baton, and when the man's wife intervened, she was also assaulted. The police were called and confiscated the baton. A criminal investigation on the grounds of grievous bodily harm has been launched.