Even after a month, the shock among parents, children and staff at the municipal daycare centre is still deep. One day before the usual summer closure lasting several weeks, a father stormed into the facility and, according to eyewitness accounts recorded in a police report, threatened some of the staff with words including ‘I’ll gouge your eyes out. Allah will judge you.’ ‘We were on site and, based on the reports, filed a complaint for threats on the morning of July 31,’ said a police spokesperson in response to an inquiry from our editorial team. The holidays are now over and the nursery is open again. But the uneasy feeling remains. ‘Many are worried, fearing that a similar situation could happen again,’ is what we were told by parents.
The concerns of those who are worried: someone who loses their temper once may do so again. And in the worst case, it might not stop at verbal attacks.
There is also a great deal of incomprehension among families and staff because, in their opinion, the reason for the aggressive behaviour, which still causes fear today, was trivial. According to them, the reason for the alleged threats was that the father felt that a supposed or actual argument between his son and another child at the nursery had gone too far. The man claimed that his son had even been injured in the incident. ‘But that wasn’t the case,’ according to the nursery community. Further debate was caused by uncertainties surrounding the proposed ban on the father entering the premises. Somehow, it was said, it was not clear whether it was already in force or had yet to come into effect.
‘We issued a ban on entering the premises with immediate effect on July 31 and sent it to the father in writing through the Office for Social Affairs and Youth,’ a city spokeswoman emphasised to this editorial team. This ban is permanent. In addition, the city, as the responsible authority, had ‘ensured increased security.’ In particular, attention had been paid to increasing visibility and access security during drop-off and pick-up times. Specifically, this meant that the doors were always closed to outsiders and were opened by staff.