Police looking for witnesses after two people injured in Leimgrubenweg
The police are looking for witnesses after a bus was forced to make emergency stop at Leimgrubenweg yesterday, injuring two passengers.
The bus driver, employed by Baselland Transport Service, had to slam on the brakes to avoid a collision with a motorcyclist as he headed towards Münchensteinerstrasse at around 1.20pm. The motorcyclist wanted to turn left at Leimgrubenweg 16 and crossed the bus lane, forcing the bus to make an energency stop. Two passengers were injured.
Anyone who can provide relevant information about the incident is asked to get in touch with the traffic police by telephoning: 061 699 12 12 or via the email address KapoVrk.VLZ@jsd.bs.ch
Yesterday’s Züri West concert at the Kaserne was cancelled due to illness
The singer from Swiss band Züri West has fallen ill with the flu, forcing the cancellation of yesterday’s concert in Basel. The band's management has announced that they are looking for an alternative performance date and will let fans know as soon as possible. The concert tickets for last night's gig remain valid.
The Bernese band Züri West has always had a love affair with Basel. Singer and working-class poet Kuno Lauener gave his heart to the city, and Basel took it gladly. Several generations have enjoyed his heartfelt singing.
“I schänke dir mis Härz/Meh hani nid/Du chasch es ha, we dä wosch/Es isch es guets/U es git no mängi, wos würd näh, Aber dir würdis gäh” (I give you my heart/I don’t have more/You can have it if you want/It’s a good one/And there are many who would want it, but I will give it to you). Thankfully, Züri West singer Kuno Lauener is generous. Basel continues to take his heart. During the gigs of the Bernese band, fans from Basel lose all control. It has been a long 30 years since Lauener and his band first performed in Basel’s “Atlantis” bar, where Basel listeners fell in love with the band for the first time. Back then, there was still more force and rock in their sound. And their hair was longer, too.
Züri West and Basel: A love affair
The love at first sight in in the “Atlantis” club has become a secure marriage between the band and its Basel fans. The members of Züri West love to perform in Basel – particularly at Kaserne and the former “Kuppel”. For more than 30 years, the Bernese band has remained in a balance between social critique, a little heartache, and the melancholy of hope.
Working-class romantics
The audience usually joins in when Lauener is grumbling about the bar where he doesn’t know anyone: “Aber kenne tuä-ni niemer hie inne/ Überall hocke Lüt/ hinger de Schampus-Chüble/ Geng ä Frou u ne Typ“ (But I don’t know anyone in here/There’s people everywhere/Behind the champagne buckets/Always a girl and a guy). The champagne bucket is a sign of isolation, a reminder that this love cannot be real. The working-class romantics of Züri West are popular across Switzerland, but in Basel in particular. Even though most of the Züri West fans are not working-class people but work in the education system.
Rather beer than champagne
And so they sing and dance together, lie in each other’s arms and hope for better times in Bernese German. The times when Züri West was still an underground band, when its members were still fighting for the Freistaat Zaffaraya in Zurich and the Reithalle in Bern are over. Songs like “Flachgleit” and “Hansdampf” are counterparts to the band’s greatest hit “I schänke dir mis Härz”. Despite troubled times, the band has been a Swiss hit machine ever since the 1989 album “Sport & Musik”. The band’s 19th album “Love” is also a bestselling album. Still, the down-to-earth Bernese band prefers to celebrate with beer rather than champagne.
Incident at French border causes tri-national rescue operation
A man was rescued from the Rhine in a tri-national operation on Friday after jumping into the river to evade a police control at the border.
According to a joint media statement issued by the operations centre of the French police in Mulhouse and the German police headquarters of Freiburg, the man evaded a border control and put himself in danger by jumping into the Rhine. The man had over-estimated his swimming capabilities and got into difficulties. A French policeman quickly jumped into the Rhine to save the man, while another officer lauched a canoe.
Far beyond the middle of the river, the French policeman was able to grab the fleeing man and use light signals to demonstrate that he was heading towards the riverbank with him. Due to the tri-border emergency operational agreements, various rescue services from the three countries were on site. As well as the professional fire fighters of Basel, Weil am Rhein, and Efringen-Kirchen, paramedic crews from France and Germany paramedic as well as officers from the police quarters of Weil am Rhein arrived on scene.
The man was helped from the water and taken to a hospital suffering from hypothermia. It remains unclear why he wanted to evade an identity check at the border. According to interim information, the man had not committed any crimes in Germany or France.