Rainbow crossing in Jena: The police are investigating after smearing!

Rainbow crossing in Jena: The police are investigating after smearing!

In the night from Monday to Tuesday, a new "rainbow crossing" was smeared in Jena, Thuringia. This unsightly action was committed by unknown people with a black color, which causes the police to determine with presumably political background because of property damage. The police patrol noticed the damage on Tuesday morning at 5 o'clock; The color was still fresh at this point and suggests the crime between 3 and 5 a.m. The Jena municipal service has already taken the first steps to find out how and when the crossing can be cleaned. Information on the possible costs for cleaning is still pending, but the discussion about this incident creates excited mood in the city.

The rainbow strip, which was only inaugurated on June 21, was to serve as a sign of solidarity with the queer community and was realized in the course of a citizens' budget. However, this caused controversial discussions: While supporters celebrate the visibility and acceptance of the queer life in Jena, critics are skeptical about the project. The proposal for the rainbow strip, which emerged from 223 votes in the citizens' budget, occupies sixth place among 15 winning projects. The FDP City Councilor Petra Teufel, who was inspired by a similar project in Wiesbaden, was responsible. Among the critical voices, the project is even referred to as "colorful nonsense" and "unnecessary actionism", since some citizens have the feeling that they have not been sufficiently informed.

a sign of diversity and tolerance

The rainbow crossing is to be built on a busy street in front of a museum and the Jena Volkshaus. The costs for the execution of the project amount to around 5,000 euros, which is considered relatively cheap compared to other citizens' budget projects, such as playground roofs that can cost up to 10,000 euros. But the topic of expenses for symbolism polarizes the population. Critics are concerned about the future renewal costs and question whether such expenses are appropriate.

The BürgerBudget is an annual program that provides the city 100,000 euros to promote projects of citizens. All over 16-year-old Jena can vote online which projects in their opinion earn support. The rainbow crossing was viewed as a symbolic street painting, which has no direct influence on traffic, but is still supposed to send a strong visual message.

The inauguration of the overwhelming took place shortly before the Christopher Street Day (CSD) and is intended to set a long -term sign of an open and tolerant city society, hopes City Councilor Teufel. However, the heated discussions that were held on social media show once more how split the city about the meaningfulness of this project - and how important it is to have more discussions.