Adela Smajic feels unsafe in Basel: “I’m scared”

Adela Smajic feels unsafe in Basel: “I’m scared”
Adela Smajic feels unsafe in Basel: “I’m scared”

Adela Smajic (31) doesn’t feel safe when she’s traveling alone in Basel – she revealed this angrily in her Instagram story. The ex-Bachelorette talked about her plans to attend an event on Wednesday evening. Due to a lack of parking spaces near the location, she had to park her car in a remote location, which she didn’t want to do.

“How do you walk back and forth alone in this outfit?” Smajic asked herself, showing off her black, transparent two-piece suit. “It shouldn’t be the case that as a woman I don’t feel safe in my own city and that I’m afraid of being attacked when I wear an outfit like that,” said Adela angrily to her followers. As a result of her fear, she was unable to attend the event, “that can’t be right.” For 20 minutes, the presenter explains that such a situation is not an isolated case.

“It is difficult to estimate who you will meet on the street and how quickly a situation can become dangerous,” she explains. She tries to stay out of tricky situations as much as possible. “I’m also sometimes afraid of walking alone in the woods with my dog ​​during the day – in trainer pants and flat shoes,” admits Adela. When she’s out alone in the evening, she calls her sister, shares her location and has her pepper spray and an alarm key device with her.

But when she gets dressed up like she did last night, she is almost never found unaccompanied. “Unfortunately, the outfit plays an unfair role; it could be interpreted as ‘permission’ for the perpetrator,” says the 31-year-old angrily. As a woman, you often go through a mental checklist like: “Can I run away in high heels?”, “What do I have in my pocket as a weapon to protect myself?” or “Which paths are well lit?” According to Adela, this shouldn’t be the case.

The Basel woman says there are “definitely not enough police officers in the field.” In her opinion, security in Basel is being neglected. The city’s geographical location is also a problem. “The proximity to the borders of and Germany encourages cross-border crime and makes the work of the police officers more difficult.”

Some of her friends work in sales in the city and have also been physically attacked. “This leads to people being afraid to speak to the perpetrators,” says Smajic. Adela herself was once shouted at and insulted by a strange man in public because she had seen him attempting to steal. “I was really afraid that he wouldn’t hit me now.”

Adela calls for more police presence, better street lighting, better infrastructure and for men to be included in the discussion. “Men should be viewed more as allies and not always just as enemies,” explains the moderator 20 Minutes. In the future, she no longer wants to have to go without things and have her freedom restricted because she doesn’t feel safe.

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