Illegal party for VIPs in a Berlin hotel?

Illegal party for VIPs in a Berlin hotel? Luxury fashion house Bottega Veneta under accusation.

Over the weekend, photos and videos of an allegedly illegal party held at Soho House, an exclusive hotel in Mitte, began circulating on social networks, in defiance of all ordinances on event restrictions and safety regulations in Berlin, Germany.  The party in question would have actually been the so-called "aftershow" of a fashion show of the Italian fashion brand Bottega Veneta, which was held on Friday at Berghain.

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The event at the “temple of techno” would not be considered illegal per se: professional events are in fact allowed if they respect some specific rules of hygiene and distance, as well as the use of masks.  What would have violated the anti-Covid rules in force, however, is an exclusive party inside the Soho House Hotel, with famous guests such as rappers Slowthai, Tricky, Burna Boy and Skepta, specially invited from the UK for the show, who would not have respected the quarantine imposed by law.

• Berghain, one of Europe's most exclusive nightclubs

In the videos circulated on Instagram and subsequently removed and re-uploaded, a crowd of guests can be seen dancing in one of the hotel's lounges, without masks and obviously without social distancing.  Several guests from the fashion show can be recognized among them, which led many to speculate that this was somehow an "official" event related to the Bottega Veneta presentation, rather than a spontaneous initiative of the hotel guests.

Instagram and Twitter users bitterly mocked the event, expressing impatience with the attitude of the organizers and participants of the alleged illegal party.   Is the ostentatious disregard for the rules by a privileged elite in bad taste, at a time when the "normal" population of Germay is forbidden certain freedoms?

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Bottega Veneta, despite the solicitation of several media outlets, has not issued any official statement on the matter, while the management of Soho House has made it known that it will investigate the incident, specifying, however, that the corporate booking that occupied the entire hotel during the weekend was managed in full compliance with the regulations in force and that the safety of guests and staff is taken extremely seriously.  The Berlin police, who were called in to look into the case, have yet to comment.