Oktoberfest: City council withdraws table from left-wing faction after slap in the face

It's nothing new that fights occasionally break out in the beer tent at Oktoberfest. But now a dispute in the Munich city council has unusual consequences for the last few days of Wiesn.

Mayor Dominik Krause (Greens) has deprived the Left Party of the table in the so-called Ratsboxe for this Oktoberfest. Several media outlets reported about it.

The occasion was therefore days ago. A woman who was sitting at the table assigned to the Left faction is said to have slapped the FDP faction leader in the city council, Jörg Hoffmann. The incident is said to have occurred after a debate about Israel and Palestine, according to media reports. According to reports, alcohol was also involved.

The former “Bunte” editor-in-chief and Munich city councilor Patricia Riekel described the incident to “Bild”. "The employees in the town hall and all parties have tables there that they can use. The atmosphere is always very nice and peaceful, people sit together across all parties," said the FDP local politician. However, young people at a neighboring table then waved Palestine scarves, placed a poster with a watermelon and sang the slogan “Free Palestine” to the tune of the song “Sweet Caroline”.

"It was a very unpleasant situation. I looked at it for a while, but then I thought: It doesn't work that way," Hoffmann recalled to "Bild". First he asked the group to stop their behavior, then he informed the tent management. The guests were thrown out, but some women later returned to his table. "They stood up in front of me, called me a genocider and a friend of genocide. Then she gave me a slap."

"The Oktoberfest is not a place for political agitation. The physical attack on our city council colleague Jörg Hoffmann, to whom I extend my full solidarity, is completely unacceptable," said Krause, justifying the decision to withdraw the table from the Left faction, at the request of the dpa news agency. “Violence should never be a means of political debate.” But it is a good sign that the parliamentary group leader of the Left, Stefan Jagel, apologized to Hoffmann.

"What was described to me is a no-go. I am personally very affected. I immediately apologized to Mr. Hoffmann for it," said Jagel himself when asked. "The woman was a friend of a member and happened to be at the table. She is not a member of the Left or the Left Youth. The whole thing will have consequences. Those affected will no longer get a table through our group." The incident will also be discussed at the district board meeting - and he himself has a conversation with the woman personally.

Jagel said he could understand the mayor's consequences. But it was annoying that he now had to cancel other guests from the Left faction who were not involved at all.

In the council box on the balcony of the Schottenhamel tent, the factions traditionally have one or more tables that they can pass on.