©AfricaNewsAnalysis/Katja Neppert
Berlin, 04 July 2026
A swimming demonstration was held today to demand the an accessible and safe waterfront for the public across the Kaisersteg footbridge.
The demonstrators were asking for a safer, shorter and more pleasant route to the Kaisersteg footbridge and the HTW university.
It has always been a problem for pedestrians who have no option but to take a detour along the main road.
The demonstrators, who covered a distance of approximately 550 metres through the Spree River, swam under the slogan “From HTW to Kaisersteg – Free the Waterfront”.
Their goal was to finally make the public waterfront – anchored in the urban planning concept – a reality after nearly 30 years of demanding a continuous publicly accessible waterfront, a concept envisioned in the 1998 urban planning concept which was never implemented.
According to Walter Raffauf from the Griebnitzsee for all Association, the privatisation of waterfronts was out of steps in modern times in a metropolitan region like Berlin, adding that “there must be access to public waters for everyone, as stipulated in Article 40, Paragraph 3 of the Brandenburg State Constitution.”
For his part, Rahel Friedel observed that the community have been contending with the issue over the past 11 years continuously fighting for the opening of the waterfront between the bridge and the HTW, calling it “the final missing link.
©AfricaNewsAnalysis/Katja Neppert
“Children, families, students, and seniors still have to walk alongside the main road. That is why we demand: Free the waterfront!”, he says.
Ray Höpfner from Brandenburg, who was there in a show of solidarity with Berlin, emphasised the need to use the blue crosses to send a signal calling for free access to the riverbanks and waters.
He stressed that “People are drawn to the water’s edge. This issue affects all the new federal states, not just Berlin. We are here today in solidarity,” he says.
In recent years, there has been a continuous growth in support for the initiative calling for the opening of the waterfront to the public, with a marked increase in the number of participants taking to the water year after year.
The persistence of the protests have elevated the issue to the highest level of the district administration leading to talks between District Councillor, Dr Claudia Leistner and the private property owners of the blocked waterfront.
Strong partners such as the Berlin Citizens’ Platforms (Berliner Bürgerplattformen) and “Schöne Vibes” have forged alliances within the neighbourhood and beyond, pushing the agenda as one of the most important urban development issues in southeast Berlin.
By MIM with Contribution from KN
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