BERLIN: The German Animal Welfare Association said Friday it has filed a complaint of cruelty to animals against a German modern pentathlete and a coach, who was thrown out of the Tokyo Olympics for striking a horse during the women’s event.
Annika Schleu and German coach Kim Raisner are accused of “cruelty to animals” and “aiding and abetting cruelty to animals,” said the association in a statement.
The incident happened as Schleu was leading last Friday’s competition in Tokyo but could not bring her horse Saint Boy under control.
The mount refused to jump the fences in the showjumping segment.
A frustrated and tearful Schleu repeatedly used her whip on the horse with Raisner overheard encouraging her to “hit it” during live coverage.
The International Modern Pentathlon Union said footage then showed Raisner “appearing to strike the horse ... with her fist,” which resulted in the coach being thrown out of the Olympics.
Schleu eventually finished well outside the medals in 31st place with Britain’s Kate French winning the gold.
Competitors in the modern pentathlon draw their horses at random.
The German Animal Welfare Association criticized Schleu for having “roughly beaten the frightened and overtaxed the horse several times.”
Raisner is accused of urging the athlete “to commit this act of cruelty to animals.”
“Of course, an athlete fixated on Olympic gold is under enormous stress at that moment, but that is no excuse for cruelty to animals,” said Thomas Schroeder, President of the association.
In a later interview with AFP subsidiary SID, Raisner admitted “I said ‘hit it’. But she (Schleu) didn’t torture the horse, not in any way.”
Schleu insisted to German daily newspaper Die Zeit that she had not treated the horse “extremely harshly.”
However, she admitted she could have reacted “a bit calmer and more level-headed.”
German coach who struck horse at Olympics accused of cruelty to animals
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German coach who struck horse at Olympics accused of cruelty to animals
- Annika Schleu and German coach Kim Raisner are accused of "cruelty to animals" and "aiding and abetting cruelty to animals"
- A frustrated and tearful Schleu repeatedly used her whip on the horse with Raisner overheard encouraging her to "hit it"
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
