A square in the city centre is a “place of fear for many Bremen residents,” according to a well-known CDU politician. Now a popular festival there has been cancelled.
After the cancellation of the Bremen “WeinSommer” on Hillmannplatz, CDU politician Wiebke Winter sharply criticized the Senate on Wednesday on the television channel Welt. Winter, deputy parliamentary group leader of the CDU in Bremen and member of the federal executive board, called the square in the city center a “place of fear for many Bremen residents.”
The organizers told the “Weserreport” that their security concerns were the reason for the cancellation. Last year, significantly fewer guests came, and many visitors no longer felt safe at the “WeinSommer”, which has been taking place in the city since 1994.
Hillmannplatz and the area around the train station are considered crime hotspots in Bremen: The Senate recently said that the number of crimes on Hillmannplatz was at “an overall low level”, but that the square was certainly “a hotspot for crime”.
The Senate wants to combat crime around the main station with more “cross-agency controls,” it said in May in a Senate response to a request from the FDP. Winter, on the other hand, called on Welt am Mittwoch for the introduction of video surveillance on Hillmannplatz – and also better lighting in the evening and at night.
The withdrawal of the “WeinSommer” from Hillmannplatz was a “capitulation with warning”, said the CDU politician. According to the “Weserreport”, the organizers of the wine festival had been looking for another venue in Bremen for the festival at the end of August until recently, but all possible places were already taken.
