It was crazy scenes: Last Sunday afternoon (June 19), around a hundred people, most of them men, fought in Berlin’s “Sommerbad am Insulaner”. The argument broke out because two groups had sprayed each other with water guns.
Peter Harzheim, President of the Association of Lifeguards, is appalled. He tells the “Bild”: “When I see that, I shudder. These people that I see there have no respect for people. It can’t go on like this.” His suggestion for improvement? “The pool operators have to become more active and choose their audience better,” says Harzheim.
But the 66-year-old not only wants more commitment from the pool operators, but also from politicians and the police. “It cannot be that the people who commit crimes there are released after two hours. (…). Politicians turn a blind eye to the problems and let us down.”
Harzheim, who has been working as a swimming champion for 45 years, cannot currently recommend families to go to the outdoor pool at weekends: “I have three small grandchildren myself – if I went in there with them, I would simply be acting irresponsibly!”, He says the “picture” further.
