A nightclub that solicited foreigners discriminated against them on the basis of race

The incident took place in October last year at the Rumor Lounge night club in the center of the capital. A group of four friends, including two men from Cameroon and Nigeria, decided to have fun there.

In the complaint to the Service, it is indicated that this club is famous for “afro” parties, and it was decided to celebrate the birthday of one of the friends here. “It was Sunday evening, so there were not many people in the club. After jumping for a little more than an hour, a security guard approached us and asked us to leave. Because of the two friends who come from Africa, it’s supposed to be a bad smell,” said the applicant.

He found it strange that it was not him and his girlfriend who asked him to go out, but his African friends. “It’s very strange when in a group of friends black people are asked to leave because of the smell, while others are still offered to stay. Therefore, we firmly believe that it was nothing but discrimination based on skin color,” the author of the complaint is convinced.

The man went to a nightclub a few days later and tried to figure out the unpleasant situation. However, according to the complaint, the manager of the club told him that “similar situations have happened to each of us, so there is no need to inflate this matter.”

During the investigation, the Office of the Equal Opportunities Controller approached Rumor Lounge with a request to clarify the circumstances of the event, to explain on what basis and on the basis of which legal acts the visitors were asked to present the internal rules of the club, but no reaction was received. The club did not respond to any of the three written and telephone inquiries of the Office.

“When the representatives of the club failed to fulfill their obligation to prove that the principle of equal opportunities was not violated, during the investigation the circumstances stated in the complaint were relied upon. And they point out that in this case the Equal Opportunities Act was violated, which prohibits harassment on the basis of race and skin color,” commented Renata Vanagėlienė, a lawyer of the Office.

According to her, the Office rarely receives complaints of discrimination based on race, origin or citizenship, but this does not mean that this problem does not exist in Lithuania.

“It is likely that because of these grounds, people simply apply less often, because they do not know all the possibilities and ways of help in our country. It is possible that this case in the night club would have gone unnoticed, if not for the active and civil friends of the victims”, R. Vanagėlienė thought.