However, the fancy dress costume wholesaler Deiters has recently had hardly any demand for creepy clown costumes. Unlike the two department store chains Karstadt and Galeria Kaufhof, which have removed creepy clown masks and outfits from their range in recent days, Deiters is still selling the masks. The wholesaler has found few people want to dress as a horror clown.

Club and disco operators have also reacted. Guests wearing horror clown masks to the Halloween party at the Kameha Grand Hotel in Bonn will have to stay outside. The organiser said on Friday that visitors with horror clown masks would also not be admitted to the torch-lit guided horror story night at the Botanical Gardens.

Organisers of the so-called Zombie Walk through Bonn city centre have also reacted to the anxiety surrounding creepy clowns. Last year, 500 zombies took part in the event, which is officially notified to the police as a demonstration. It starts tonight at 8.30pm in the Hofgarten and goes from there through the Münsterplatz to the Kennedy Bridge. The organisers have asked participants not to leave a poor impression and to be friendly to the authorities.

Guests dressed as creepy clowns are also not welcome in the Cologne disco “Club Diamonds.” “We won’t let them in,” said manager Yahya Firat. “Our guests should feel safe and comfortable. We want to avoid a panic.”

Organisers at the Cologne Lanxess-Arena on the other hand are letting creepy clowns join the party. “Visitors bought their tickets in advance. We can’t refuse them entry,” said Björn Lindert, organiser of the party and the managing director of the fancy dress wholesaler Deiters. He added, “Whoever is planning something bad, doesn’t need a clown mask to do so.” Nevertheless, the security personnel will be watching creepy clowns particularly closely.

(Original text: Michael Wrobel and Bernd Linnarz, with material from dpa. Translated by Kate Carey.)