Unknown individuals vandalized the storefront window of Thun City Library in the Swiss canton of Bern, scrawling it with feces. At the time, Pride Month displays featured LGBTQI+ books, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes.
A passerby first drew attention to the incident when he happened to walk past the library during the night into Monday. “It already smelled of feces from a distance,” the outlet quoted the 29-year-old. “One window was smeared with brown, gross feces.”
The city library itself only learned of the incident through the newspaper’s inquiry—the library had been closed on Monday. “Those responsible noticed the stained storefront on Tuesday,” said city spokesperson Daniela Lüpold. The pane should be cleaned as soon as possible. The LGBTQI+ books should also remain on display for the planned period.
According to the Bern cantonal police, no criminal complaint had been filed so far. However, the act of smearing the storefront could carry legal consequences, a spokesperson noted—as contamination of another’s property or as property damage. The exact legal classification would depend on the circumstances of the individual case.
Nina Ramseier, co-director of the counseling center Gemeinsam gegen Gewalt und Rassismus (Together Against Violence and Racism), sees a possible discriminatory motive: “It is conceivable that defacing a library that displayed LGBTQI+-literature could reflect a discriminatory intent.” Public discrimination based on sexual orientation has been illegal in Switzerland since 2020.
