Instead of exuberant holiday fun, there has recently been an increase in violence in Berlin's outdoor pools. Now a dispute between guests and employees in the Neukölln Columbiabad escalates, in the end there are several injured and preliminary arrests. It's not the first incident in the bathroom.
Eleven people were injured in a dispute between bathers and bath employees in the summer bath on Columbiadamm in Berlin-Neukölln. Three of them were taken to the hospital for observation, the Berlin police said. Three men were provisionally arrested.
The argument on Tuesday evening came when guests were expelled from the Columbiadamm baths because of their behavior. Those affected initially complied with the request, but later returned, it said. The participants also used tear gas during the argument.
There have already been several violent clashes in Berlin's outdoor pools this summer. For example, at the end of June, 250 people were involved in a dispute in the summer swimming pool in Neukölln. The trigger is said to have been a dispute about spraying water pistols, a man broke the nose of a 21-year-old. A similar incident in an outdoor pool in the Berlin district of Steglitz had previously led to a fight involving around a hundred people.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser then brought more police presence into play against violence in German open-air pools. "For me it's important that the rule of law takes action, that there are enough staff on site so that something like this doesn't happen," Faeser told "Bild" in early July. "In Germany, families with children or young people must be able to go to the swimming pool without any worries."
She also wanted to address in the conference of interior ministers "that we obviously have to increase the police presence there," said the minister. Because in a constitutional state "we must not allow something like that". If such incidents have a migrant background, as is evident in Berlin, it is important to name it "so that people can see that we are taking it seriously and are not ducking away."
