Protest Spree

You Have Five Chances To Swim in the Spree This Summer

Throughout the summer, Berliners will be staging regular protests by swimming in the Spree on the 20th of each month. Will you join them?

You Have Five Chances To Swim in the Spree This Summer
© Carlo Stanga, 2022. Courtesy of Flussbad Berlin e.V.

Last June, a group that has spent years lobbying for the legalisation of swimming in parts of the Spree invited Berliners to take a dip in a section of canal along Museum Island, just beneath the Berliner Dom. The floating protest was intended to prove that the waters of Berlin’s central river are clean enough to be used not just for lethargic tourist boats, but public recreation, too. The demo drew hundreds of swimmers – and a follow-up float in August.

This year, Flussbad Berlin is hoping to make an even bigger splash, asking hundreds more to take the plunge at swimming protests on the 20th of every month, starting on May 20 and stretching to September 20 – the date of Berlin elections.

Flussbad swim, August 2025