German orchestra denied permission for protest performance by border fence

A German orchestra spearheading efforts to stage a June 3 protest concert on both sides of the Tijuana-San Diego border has found itself forced to change plans after state and federal authorities denied its requests to perform on the U.S. side.

Led by the Dresdner Sinfoniker, the concert “Tear Down this Wall!” will now be a five-hour event taking place entirely on the Tijuana side, said the leader of the Dresden-based group, Markus Rindt.

Both the U.S. Border Patrol and California State Parks turned down the group’s petition to stage the concert simultaneously on the U.S. side across from Playas de Tijuana.

The group’s initial request to the U.S. Border Patrol requested permission to bring performers inside Friendship Circle, a federally controlled area between two border fences that is normally opened to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“The Border Patrol does not allow the federal enforcement zone to be used as a stage for an event based on a political message,” according to a statement released by the agency on Monday.

Rindt said the group also was denied permission to perform on the premises of Border Field State Park. “The permit is refused due to a lack of capacity to manage potential public safety concerns and potential impacts to natural resources,” read a May 16 email from Chris Peregrine, manager of the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, which includes the park.

Peregrine wrote that while Rindt’s petition stated that the participation would be limited to 25 people, “you have promoted the event rather extensively, apparently with intent to draw large crowds and to involve activities not previously presented in your proposal.”

In a telephone interview Monday, Rindt said the event “is only a concert and nothing dangerous.” The target is not only the extended U.S.-border wall promised by President Donald Trump. “It’s meant to be against many, many different walls in the world, but also the walls in people’s minds,” Rindt said.

Rindt is calling for participants all along the U.S.-Mexico border to join in with simultaneous “flash mob” performances.

The event in Tijuana will include U.S. and Mexican musicians. One of the pieces will be a world premiere “for which the Dresdner Sinfoniker, with the help from Mexican and American percussionists, will transform the wall into an instrument.”

Among those expected to perform are the Tijuana youth orchestra, Sinfónica Juvenil. Also on the bill are the band Tijuana No!, pop singer Ceci Bastida, Guatemalan Maya singer Sara Curruchich and the jazz singer Coral MacFarland.

sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com

@sandradibble