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The crowds are huge, not every visitor can be checked. © Yannick Thedens
Stricter entry controls at the Oktoberfest: Our reporter does the self-test. He passes the security with a metal spoon.
Munich – At first it remained orderly for a few seconds, then they stormed off: masses of visitors ran onto the Oktoberfest grounds on Saturday at exactly nine o’clock in the morning – past security staff. Familiar images at the start of the Wiesn. Do they fit with the increased security measures this year?
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Tightened controls at the Oktoberfest: metal detectors are being used
After the fatal knife attack in Solingen, Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) made a clear statement: “We will ensure that the Oktoberfest is as safe as possible.” (we reported) For the first time, security staff are using metal detectors at the entrances, handheld devices similar to those at the airport. They have a total of 40 available. In addition, more guests will be randomly searched this year, Reiter announced. The mayor asked for understanding in advance: All of this could lead to longer waiting times.
There was not much of this to be seen during the morning rush to the site – guests simply ran into the site for minutes. Without checks? No, not at all! “Early risers are checked while they are in line,” says a spokesperson for the security service Securitas. Some guests were already queuing from three in the morning – so security had plenty of time to search them. However, some of them pushed their way into the rows unchecked during the first rush.
Reporter does the security self-test – and gets through every Wiesn entrance
And after the first rush? We did the test. I, the reporter, tried to smuggle a metal spoon into the grounds in my vest. Let’s see if a metal detector goes off. I tried it first in the early afternoon, around 2 p.m., at the entrance to Bavaria. I approached the line and without waiting, I moved quickly towards security. In front of me, the security guards looked into some of the ladies’ handbags. I came closer, walked past several security guards and remained unnoticed.
I go through, nobody is using the scanners. I stay for about five minutes, watching the controls: two young women who want to enter the premises together are checked using a hand scanner. It doesn’t go off for either of them, and they are allowed in. Many guests, however, are simply waved through if they don’t have a bag with them. “It’s impossible to check everyone,” says one employee. At least not without hours of waiting…
The security staff let the reporter pass without checking. © Yannick Thedens
I try the spoon three more times at the main entrance – not once am I scanned or frisked. In fact, the scanners are not used across the board, but rather “on an ad hoc and random basis,” says the Securitas spokesperson. This means that people usually move quickly in the queue: “Long waiting times only occur when changing reservations, as in previous years.”
