Felix Weyand, a student from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, one of the two foreign students involved in an alleged drunken brawl on Sunday evening, termed the incident “unfortunate” and said they did not expect “such an ugly evening”.
Weyand, on an exchange programme at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), spoke to Express about what transpired that night at Shiro Bar in UB City. “Yes, there was a party going on at the bar and some people were celebrating. Ribeiro Charly (from France), his girlfriend and I were talking among ourselves. There must have been a misunderstanding, because we were taught not to randomly start a conversation with any Indian woman, given it is a conservative society,” he said.
“At some point, my friend got into a heated argument with some people. Moreover, the floor was slippery and I was slipping while trying to break off the brawl,” he said.
Weyand and Charly have been booked by the Cubbon Park police for physically assaulting a woman and also charged with sexual harassment.
When asked about the woman who had tried to intervene and disengage the quarrel, Weyand said he was unaware of her presence. He said the waiters had asked them to leave the venue, but they could not find a way through the crowd at the bar. Once the police reached the spot, Weyand called IISc authorities before being taken to the Cubbon Park police station. “We were questioned, provided with food, blankets and necessary sanitation. The police did nothing wrong,” he clarified.
On charges that they hurled racist abuse at the police, Weyand said he does not remember what he said. “I was in pain. I was hit as were others. I was not angry, but afraid,” he recounted. The students were released on a conditional bail on Tuesday. Weyand said he was sorry they had ruined someone’s celebration.