Debate about security in Berlin outdoor pools influences the summer season

Debate about security in Berlin outdoor pools influences the summer season

balance of the Berlin outdoor pool season - problems due to escalating situations

Around three months after the beginning of the summer season, the operator of the Berlin outdoor pools draws a first balance that is mixed. The previous course is "strongly shaped by the debates about the escalating situations in some outdoor pools" and the resulting tightened security measures, according to the spokesman for the Berlin bathing company Matthias Oloew. The mixed weather conditions also provide fewer visitors. Currently there are mainly outdoor pool fans and family swimmers who would go to the baths in any weather. They knew that it is currently paradise in the swimming pools, according to Oloew.

How many people have already visited the outdoor pools has not yet been announced. According to the company, a total of 1.7 million visitors were counted in 2022, significantly more than during the Corona pandemic.

So far, July 9th is the most visiting day of the season. This Sunday, around 73,000 people crowded in the bathrooms. The Wannsee lido and the Summer Bad Kreuzberg, also known as Prinzenbad, were particularly popular with around 9,500 guests each.

On July 9, the Columbiabad in Neukölln had to be closed early due to wrangling and renitated visitors. Due to a high sick leave of the staff, the bathroom was then closed for a week. This further heated the discussion about security in Berlin outdoor pools.

Since July 15, an obligation to identify the Berlin outdoor pools. Surveillance cameras were also installed in the Columbiabad - a novelty in Berlin. The police strengthen their presence, among other things, through mobile guards. Further security measures are in progress and are coordinated with the Berlin police and the Senate Administration.

Video surveillance of the prince's pool in Kreuzberg is currently being considered. For the summer pool Pankow, in which repeated brawls also occurred last June, this has not yet been discussed publicly.

In the event of an incident on July 1, which has only become known, the police are also aware of the personal details of the parties involved without video recording. It is said to be people at the age of 16, 17, 18 and 22, who are said to have tried to intimidate bathers with a migration background at the Pankow summer pool. Before the outdoor pool, the group was found in a uniform outer clothing with the imprint "III. National Revolutionary Youth" and presented a banner with the inscription "Throwing down on the Mediterranean".

The "National Revolutionary Youth" is a youth organization of the right -wing extremist small party. It is not known whether the four young men actually belong to the party or belong to another right group.

Overall, the discussions about security and the tightened measures shape the course of the Berlin outdoor pool season. The effects of the mixed weather and the one