The initial accusation came from Nicholas Rose, an American ballet dancer who alleged being ejected from the club following a “vicious personal attack” in an Instagram post that has since been deleted. A new Resident Advisor report details four more testimonies from 2019-2021, one of which allegedly took place at RSO’s former incarnation, Griessmuehle.

Among them is an account given by DJ Wells, a friend of Rose’s who also attended the August 15th SYNOID gathering. He alleged that a bouncer “shoved his fingers” into Wells’ back after he lowered his mask to talk to a friend, and that aggressive enforcement of the mask mandates continued after that point.

American singer Sedric Perry recounted having experienced similar behavior from RSO’s staff – ironically during an October 2020 event featuring panel talks on racial equality. Following one discussion, he said that a staff member found him and other panelists standing and talking in the green room and said, “What the fuck are you guys doing? Why the fuck are you standing here in the middle of the doorway?”

Yann Mathan reported having been cornered in a bathroom stall by bouncers after they shoved the door into his back following a July 2021 event. He alleged that they accused him of being a drug dealer and took photos of him with their cell phones before threatening to call the police. Mathan said he then told them he would call the police himself, at which point they allowed him to leave.

A former Griessmuehle promoter who spoke to Resident Advisor on the condition of anonymity alleged that staff accused a Black man of being a drug dealer at a 2019 party but found no drugs when they strip searched him in the bathroom. The promoter also said that bouncers often IDed attendees of color upon entry although “no other clubs do that.”

Resident Advisor reports that Revier Südost’s team emailed a statement acknowledging that “recent incidents made it clearly evident that we were not meeting our own standards in every area of our club.” It said that new diversity and conflict resolution training had been initiated, and that music industry DEI trainer Lindi Delight had been enlisted to aid in the process. The club also hired celebrity bouncer Smiley Baldwin to reorganize the security team.

Revier Südost has yet to announce when it will reopen at the time of writing.

At the time of writing, only the outdoor Baergarten area of the club is open to visitors as dancing in enclosed spaces is still against Berlin’s emergency COVID-19 guidelines. They began admitting guests last week, with hours of operation now beginning daily at 2:00 PM as noted by Resident Advisor.

Griessmuehle had fallen victim to Berlin’s Clubsterben (“death of clubs” in English) months before the COVID-19 crisis began to derail the entertainment industry. Towards the beginning of the year, they launched a campaign called “Save Our Spaces” in an attempt to raise awareness of the challenges faced by the city’s cultural institutions.

Griessmuehle garnered notoriety for hosting an 87-hour gathering in 2018. The next year, they opened an adjacent record store called Latitude which has also recently relocated due to the pandemic.

More information can be found on the Revier Südost website.

Image credit: Tjard Asseng

The protests coincided with an announcement from Griessmuehle founder David Ciura that the club will stay open one weekend longer than originally planned, allowing for a February 1st finale of their Cocktail d’Amore event brand. Their rental contract ends January 31st, and the owners of the property plan to demolish it and build offices in its place.

Among the messages written on protesters signs were “Let Us Dance,” “ACAB: All Clubs Are Beautiful,” and “Hard Trance Against Profit.” Neukölln Deputy Mayor reportedly called out “Clubkultur ist Kultur!” to the crowd, who met the rallying cry with applause.

More information on the final Cocktail d’Amore event at Griessmuehle can be found on its Facebook event page.

“We love Berlin and it‘s unlimited freedom,” reads verbiage on the Griessmuehle website. “The freedom to be and to do whatever you want. There are many places that enable that freedom, especially in the city’s world-renowned nightlife.”

“…But these places are in danger. We are in danger,” reads a later passage. “It’s time to respect the clubs as they are, to acknowledge our cultural contribution and to give us a permanent place to exist.” The website promises to “spread more info in early 2020.”

Griessmuehle has played host to tastemakers like Darwin, in addition to a 87-hour gathering in 2018 that garnered the club significant notoriety. The following year, management opened a record store called Latitude in the adjacent space formerly occupied by The Record Loft.

More information on how to support Griessmuehle will presumably be provided on their website in the coming weeks.