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Foreigner living in Berlin. Ticket inspectors are civilized and polite. Altercations and provocations are rare. Given my observations, I will take this news report with a BIG pinch of salt rather than assume discriminatory behaviour.

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Also a foreigner living in Berlin, not sheltered. I've seen harsh words and physical posturing that could easily be one step below actual violence with the contractors. They are out to get people, and show no mercy. Once you get a ticket, the onus is on you to prove you were innocent. I've heard of foreigners with valid tickets being harassed.

The article makes a good case for possible abuse of authority by the ticket controllers, which may disproportionately target marginalized people.

For what it's worth, I never had any issues on transit in Berlin either. I'm also white, so this obviously has no bearing on what people of colour may be experiencing

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