“I’ve never been so scared to go out in Ljubljana, and I walked on the crowded streets. Terrible. I will never go out alone again. And since I don’t live in Ljubljana anymore, I’ve been there maybe twice in the evenings. The vibe there has changed, it’s not so carefree and cute anymore,” wrote one of the worried followers of the podcast Na tekočem (which could be translated as Current Events), where the host Karin Planinšek comments on current events in Slovenia and around the world without holding back.
After the news broke of an attack by migrants on a man and the rape of a woman near Ljubljana’s train station, students in Ljubljana reacted with concern. No longer feeling safe, many decided to buy tear gas. Some have made it known that they are thinking of protesting. Other residents of Ljubljana are also worried, especially those living in the area of Vič, where the asylum centre is located and overcrowded with migrants. This is evidenced by posts on forums and in Facebook groups.
The follower of the podcast Na tekočem shared her story from two weeks ago, when she was invited to an event in Ljubljana that started at 7 in the evening. “I went alone because my partner really could not come with me. I parked under Congress Square and walked out towards the Nebo restaurant,” she wrote, adding that she had to walk some 300 metres from her car to the restaurant. As soon as she got out of the car park, she says, a man from the darkness whistled after her.
“I was going up the stairs a little earlier, and a man on a bicycle came up behind me and asked if I had any spare change. I felt so uncomfortable. It’s true that I was in a skirt and heels, but I was dressed very, very decently,” she said, because she always dresses modestly. As she crossed the Congress Square, she received a few more whistles and stares. “But not from Slovenians, from migrants – they are everywhere,” she stressed.
She said that she walked as fast as she could to the entrance of the restaurant and that she was glad when she managed to get there. But she said that despite her relief, she immediately thought that it would be at least 9 o’clock when she walked back to her car, and it would thus already be very dark outside. “So anyway. When it was time for me to get back to my car, I was running, I was so uncomfortable with all the stares,” she said. “You cannot help but feel like one of them is going to touch you any moment now, and you know you will have to hit him, because it will be too intrusive,” she pointed out, admitting that the whole time she was walking she was just thinking that she had to walk as fast as she could and not look anyone in the eye, so as not to accidentally provoke someone to actually walk up to her.
She no longer wants to walk the streets of Ljubljana alone
When she arrived at the parking garage, she quickly paid the parking fee, not wanting to be approached by a migrant or a homeless person. “I quickly went to my car, locked myself in, took off my heels and left Ljubljana as quickly as possible,” she said, adding that she lived in Ljubljana for eight years, during her studies and then for a few more years. She said she has never been this afraid to go out in Ljubljana, even though, in this case, she was walking on the more crowded streets. “Terrible. I will never go out alone again. And since I don’t live in Ljubljana anymore, I’ve been there maybe twice in the evenings. The vibe there has changed, it’s not so carefree and cute anymore,” she believes.
N. Ž.
