Police called out hundreds of times because of "L'amour toujours"
Actually, the song "L'amour toujours" ponders eternal love - but in Germany, the music is also misused for hate speeches against foreigners. Since October 2023, the police have been called at least 368 times due to this reason. However, there are still possible cases from Bavaria and Saxony that have not been reported.
Due to foreigner-hating paroles being sung to the Italian pop song "L'amour toujours," there have been over 360 reports of the police being called nationwide. According to a survey by the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) in all federal states, Bavaria and Saxony did not provide information on this matter.
The order keepers were called out in at least 368 instances between October 2023 and June 2024 due to the phrase "Deutschland den Deutschen, Ausländer raus" being sung to the tune of the song by Gigi D'Agostino. The local criminal offices (LKA) reported both public festivals and discotheques, as well as private parties and multiple times at schools.
Most of the cases were reported from North Rhine-Westphalia: The LKA reported that the police were called 96 times between November 2023 and June 2024 due to constitutionally offensive or foreigner-hating statements made during the playing of the song. The LKA in Baden-Württemberg counted a total of 40 such cases by early July 2024. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the police were called 45 times between October 2023 and June of this year. 39 of the 45 cases were dated in June 2024.
Sylt-Video caused shock
At the end of May, a Handy video recorded on Sylt caused a stir, in which partygoers were singing the reworded song. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the paroles in the video "disgusting" and "not acceptable."
The spokeswoman for the LKA Hessen, Laura Kaufmann-Conrad, told the RND that there were no known cases from Hessen before November 2023: "One can certainly speak of a concentration of similar cases in younger past." Since then, there have been 25 cases reported in Hessen, in which investigative proceedings were initiated due to suspected hate speech. The investigations are still ongoing at the respective public prosecutor's offices, the LKA informed the RND. The LKA criminal investigation office in Hamburg is also investigating five cases in connection with the song.
Several federal states have reported how often minors were involved in the cases. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the song was sung on a schoolyard in two instances, once as an Instagram video and once as a Snapchat video by minors, sung by a youth group in a garden, and skandied by two students on the school path near Rostock and by a student during a lesson in Sassnitz.
Minors involved
According to the LKA in Baden-Württemberg, minors were involved in about one quarter of the cases. In Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia, cases were reported in which minors were also involved. In Hessen, three of the cases occurred at schools.
A consistent approach by the competent authorities has not been observed yet. The song itself does not constitute a criminal offense, the Berlin Police informed RND. According to the Neuruppin Public Prosecutor's Office in Brandenburg, the notorious slogan is not punishable in itself. Only in conjunction with wearing a uniform or hinting at the Hitler mustache does a criminal behavior arise.
The recent incidents of right-wing extremists misusing the song "L'amour toujours" for hate speeches against foreigners have raised concerns about the increasing prevalence of racism in German politics. regrettably, such incidents have not been isolated cases, with reports of the song being sung with hateful paroles at public events, schools, and private parties in various states like North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The police have been actively addressing these incidents, with a significant number of reports filed and investigations ongoing.
