{"id":151573,"date":"2026-08-24T16:50:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/151573\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T16:50:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:50:55","slug":"swimming-day-for-black-children-in-berlin-scrapped-after-racist-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/151573\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming day for Black children in Berlin scrapped after racist threats"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A swimming day providing Black children <\/a>and their families exclusive access to a local pool in Berlin<\/a> has been scrapped after organisers found themselves facing a litany of racist abuse<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The event, which was scheduled for earlier this month, was arranged by the Volksb\u00fchne theatre in partnership with Each One Teach One (EOTO), a Berlin-based anti-Black racism<\/a> project, to help dismantle barriers that can deter Black children from swimming.<\/p>\n

The one-off session was due to take place at the Volksb\u00fchne\u2019s temporary \u201cVolksbad\u201d pool. <\/p>\n

While the pool has previously been reserved for other groups without incident, including members of the LGBTQ+ community<\/a> and socially disadvantaged young people<\/a>, the decision to dedicate a session specifically to Black children attracted backlash from rightwing pundits and politicians.<\/p>\n

Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland (AfD)<\/a> co-leader Alice Weidel described the move as \u201can apartheid\u201d in which \u201cwhite people are temporarily denied access,\u201d before calling for tax funds for such events to be \u201ccut immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the announcement of the event, the AfD, which has led in German polls this year<\/a>, posted an AI-generated image on X, reading: \u201cRacial segregation at taxpayers’ expense in Berlin: Are you white? Then no entry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe far right AfD party claimed the swimming session was \u201capartheid\u201d (Getty)<\/p>\n

Such criticism was echoed by Dennis Hohloch, a member of the Brandenburg state parliament, who took to X ahead of the swimming day to write: \u201cI’d suggest: All whites tomorrow from 12:00 p.m. to the Volksbad! Take a look at what happens with taxpayers’ money.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event had been as promoted as a \u201cpositive measure to promote structurally disadvantaged groups\u201d by the theatre, intended to challenge longstanding stereotypes around Black people and swimming, while addressing barriers such as access, cost and a lack of representation that can discourage participation.<\/p>\n

But citing a \u201cnationwide wave of anti-Black racism and incitement,\u201d the barrage of hate from rightwing campaigners has since led to its cancellation, where the organisers said that they can no longer \u201cguarantee the safe arrival and departure of registered attendees\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people attended anti-racism protests held outside the theatre following the cancellation on Friday.<\/p>\n

Matthias Lilienthal, the creative director of the Volksb\u00fchne, has said that in spite of the cancellation, the theatre will \u201cof course, continue to offer positive initiatives for structurally disadvantaged people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stand in solidarity \u2013 today and every day \u2013 with all those subjected to racism and right-wing hostility,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In a post on Instagram, Berlin’s senator for anti-discrimination, Cansel Kiziltepe called the cancellation \u201ccompletely unacceptable.\u201d <\/p>\n

Responding to the \u201capartheid\u201d claims by the AfD, Kiziltepe stressed: \u201cAnti-discrimination does not mean ignoring existing inequalities.<\/p>\n

\u201cRacism and exclusion are part of the daily reality of Black people. And we all need to do something to counter this and create safe spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[60262,112,33669,190,10159,14476,65693,13392,1207,2542,71433,1235,71434],"class_list":["post-151573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-arts-culture-and-entertainment","tag-berlin","tag-color-image","tag-germany","tag-horizontal","tag-human-interest","tag-in-front-of","tag-offbeat","tag-people","tag-photography","tag-public-swimming-pool","tag-swimming","tag-volksbuehne"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117151523934902679","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}