Outdoor pools accessible to everybody: Don't exclude people through mandatory online tickets and ID!

22.06.2024, 09:18

Dear supporters! Many of you have asked us about the ID requirement - which, just like the online ticket requirement, makes it more difficult for all people in Berlin to access outdoor pools. Many people are unhappy with this and would like the pool operators to revoke this regulation. That is why our petition is now also calling for the ID requirement to be lifted. 

If you have already signed but do not want to support the new demand, you can withdraw your signature. This is also possible if you have personally signed a list - simply send a message to info@openpetition.net .

Thank you for your support - and keep sharing the petition to increase the number of signatures!


Neuer Titel: Outdoor pools accessible to everybody: Don't exclude people through mandatory online tickets!tickets and ID!

Neuer Petitionstext:

Short version

Many Berliners can't go to the swimming pool right now. They want to buy a ticket at the ticket office, but that's not possible.Some outdoor pools only sell tickets at the ticket office until 10 am.The company operating the pools is saying: We're doing this to make everything easier. People should buy their tickets online. Weonline. We say: this new rule makes it much more difficult! difficult! 

Many people can't buy a ticket online. YouBecause you need a credit card or a PayPal account to do this. You also need a device with internet access. And you have to know how it works in the first place.We think that's unfair! SwimmingThe swimming pools should be there for everyone in Berlin. That's what the Berlin law says, too.Ifsays.If some people can't go to the swimming pool, that's discrimination.

We demand: Swimming pools should sell tickets at the ticket office all day long.

We think it is becoming increasingly difficult to go to the swimming pool.Since last year, people need to show ID to access the pool. But not everyone has ID. Police are patrolling at the swimming pool - sometimes even when nothing has happened. Thehappened. The swimming pools say it's safer this way.is for everyone's security. But for many people it's more difficult now.We want other solutions to be found sofor everyonepeople canto feel safe at the pool.pool

We demand: Admission to swimming pools without compulsory ID!

We also see that Berlin is cutting back on leisure activities and social services. That'sservices.That's why the outdoor pool is all the more important! It shouldmust be easy to access.

We want swimming, sunbathing, fries and a good time for everyone! We say: outdoor swimming pools for everybody!everyone! 

#FreibadEinfachFürAlle#FreibadEinfachFuerAlle

Long version

Since the beginning of June, many visitors have been standing in front of closed gates at five outdoor swimming pools in Berlin, while others can simply walk in: Admission tickets at the ticket office are only sold until 10 am. Anyone who comes at lunchtime, in the afternoon or in the evening can only enter the pool with an online ticket. ticket. 

This regulation makes swimming difficult or even impossible for many people. For children and young people, for example: they don't have a credit card or PayPal account, which are required to buy an online ticket. Or for older people who have no experience of orderingbuying something online. Since last summer, people without papers have been barred from visiting the outdoor pool because of the ID requirement.

In view of inflation and social cuts, many leisure facilities are already too expensive. Berlin's public swimming pools are a public service that must be available to everyone - just like parks and public libraries. They have a mandate from the state of Berlin to offer "sporting"sporting activities, recreation and relaxation for members of all (!) population groups". Thisgroups". This is no longer guaranteed here. Poor people, who are particularly dependent on outdoor pools for their leisure activities are being excluded. This is unfair and discriminatory!

We demand: Ticket purchases at the ticket office must be possible again, during the entire opening hours!

Since summer 2023, an ID check has also been introduced in outdoor swimming pools. For many, this means an additional hurdle or even exclusion: e.g. for people who have no papers; for trans people who have to justify themselves to staff because of a photo or name on their ID. Or for people for whom their passport, residence permit or ID are important documents that they do not bring with them to the swimming pool. And which people are being checked most closely, while others are waved through?

We demand: Admission to the swimming pool without ID!

The Berliner Bäderbetriebe say that the ID requirement creates security. We demand that other solutions be found to tackle the existing problems - e.g. through more violence prevention and the effective enforcement of bans from the premises (Hausverbot).

Fewer and fewer people are able to swim and swimming pools are being closed in many places, as the German Lifesaving Association (DLRG) also emphasizes. Access to existing swimming pools must therefore be guaranteed. 

Instead, it is becoming increasingly difficult to go to the swimming pool - and this affects poor people in particular, who are especially dependent on the outdoor pool in the face of inflation and social cuts. This is unfair and discriminatory!

Easily accessible leisure facilities are also being dismantled in other places - for example on Tempelhofer Feld.

Low-threshold leisure facilities in Berlin must be preserved!

We don't want a swimming pool where people can only get in with ID, a PayPal account and a credit card.

We don't want a situation in which children have to approach unknown adults in front of the swimming pool so that they can buy them a ticket.We don't want to see low-threshold leisure facilities in Berlin being increasingly cut back - like the sports fields on Tempelhofer Feld, which are to be replaced with camps for refugees instead of providing them with dignified accommodation.We don't want a swimming pool where people can only get in with ID, a PayPal account and a credit card.Weticket.

We don't want a swimming pool that is patrolled by police while budget is cut back for swimming pool staff, violence prevention and social services.

We want swimming, playing, relaxation, fries and a good time for everybody! everybody! 

Columbiabad, Prinzenbad, Insulaner, Sommerbad Humboldthain and Pankow - outdoor swimming pools for everybody!

#FreibadEinfachFuerAlle