Discrimination Cancellation of the Alba Festival was discriminatory according to Zurich court

Zurich government councillor Jacqueline Fehr (SP) has suffered a defeat in the administrative court. The court ruled that the cancellation of the Alba Festival in 2021 was discriminatory. Fehr had issued this ruling at the time.

The Alba Festival was due to take place on the Hardturm wasteland in September 2021. Against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, Fehr decided to withdraw the permit already granted for the two-day event - less than 48 hours before the start of the festival.

At the time, the government justified its decision by stating that the festival was "primarily aimed at a severely affected community". "Findings from contact tracing as well as the update from the Covid Science Task Force show that vacation returnees from the Balkans have been infected with Covid-19 at an above-average rate."

"Nobody likes to lose in court"

Nobody likes losing in court, not even her, Fehr wrote on LinkedIn on Monday. Nevertheless, she is happy about this ruling. It is good to know that the Administrative Court sets a strict standard when it comes to discrimination.

The Federal Commission against Racism had also criticized the Zurich government at the time. The festival organizers finally took the government council to court.

The following year, the Alba Festival was finally able to take place. The venue was the Hardturm-Areal. In 2023, however, the organizers were unlucky again: the city of Zurich issued the permit too late, so the festival had to be cancelled.

In June of this year, the Albanian-Kosovan festival was finally able to take place without incident, from June 21 to 23 on the Kasernenareal. With over 20,000 visitors, the Alba Festival claims to be the largest open-air festival for Albanian and Kosovar pop music in Europe.