BERLIN (AP) \u2014 A German newspaper critic had animal feces smeared on her face in the city of Hannover by a ballet director who apparently took offense at a review she wrote.<\/p>\n
The Hannover state opera house apologized for the incident and said Monday that it was suspending ballet director Marco Goecke with immediate effect.<\/p>\n
The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that a furious Goecke approached its dance critic, Wiebke Huester, during the interval of a premiere at Hannover’s opera house on Saturday and asked what she was doing there. It said that the two didn’t know each other personally.<\/p>\n
The newspaper said that Goecke, who apparently felt provoked by a recent review she wrote of a production he staged in the Dutch seat of government, The Hague, threatened to ban her from the ballet and accused her of being responsible for people canceling season tickets in Hannover.<\/p>\n
He then pulled out a paper bag with animal feces and smeared her face with the contents before making off through a packed theater foyer, the newspaper said. Huester identified the substance as dog feces and said she had filed a criminal complaint, German news agency dpa reported.<\/p>\n
In a statement on its website, the opera house said Huester’s \u201cpersonal integrity\u201d was violated \u201cin an unspeakable way.\u201d It said that it contacted her immediately after the incident to apologize.<\/p>\n
The opera house said that Goecke’s \u201cimpulsive reaction\u201d violated the ground rules of the theater and that \u201che caused massive damage to the Hannover State Opera and State Ballet.\u201d As a result, it said, he is being suspended and banned from the opera house until further notice.<\/p>\n
Goecke has been given the next few days to apologize \u201ccomprehensively\u201d and explain himself to theater management \u201cbefore further steps are announced,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
The ballet director appeared at least partly unrepentant, however. In an interview with public broadcaster NDR, Goecke acknowledged that his \u201cchoice of means wasn\u2019t super, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course socially that is also certainly not recognized or respected, if one resorts to such means,\u201d he said of the attack, adding that he had never done anything like that before and was \u201ca bit shocked at myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goecke said that while having his work \u201csoiled for years\u201d was a price he had been told he had to pay for being in the public eye, there was a limit.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce a certain point has been reached, I disagree,” he said.<\/p>\n
The German journalists\u2019 association DJV denounced the attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn artist must tolerate criticism, even if it seems exaggerated,\u201d the union\u2019s regional head in Lower Saxony state, Frank Rieger, said. \u201cWhoever reacts violently to criticism is unacceptable. The attack on the … journalist is also an attack on press freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n