Overview
- The group Flussbad Berlin announced five monthly Mitschwimm demonstrations timed to the 20th of each month to build pressure ahead of the Abgeordnetenhaus vote and to demand a pilot bathing site in the Spreekanal.
- The first Mitschwimm, planned for Wednesday, May 20, was called off at short notice because of bad weather though speakers and politicians still addressed supporters at the riverbank.
- The Senatsverwaltung reiterated that bathing in the inner-city Spree remains illegal under current bathing‑water rules and warned that anyone entering the Spreekanal during the events acts unlawfully and at their own risk.
- Flussbad says it has run a monitoring system since 2023 and provides an app with near‑real‑time water readings and automated overflow warnings, and it claims the Spree is suitable for bathing more than 80 percent of the season; those technical claims have not won regulatory approval.
- The campaign has become an explicit electoral issue, drawing public support from at least one major-party candidate and forcing a clash between citizen science, public-health authorities and Berlin’s environmental senate over safety rules and legal limits.