Remember those fights with water guns or water balloons you used to love having when you were young? Many of us probably still enjoy them now and seek any relatively sane occasion to feel like a kid again. Exactly for this reason, in major cities around the world there are similar events organized. However, in several instances there isn’t only water involved, making the urban fights more unexpected and entertaining.
One of the biggest events of this sort is the fight which takes place at the end of summer near the Oberbaumbrücke in Berlin. The event has already become a tradition for the city. This year it reached its 13th anniversary. It all started in 1998 when the local administration decided to unite the two districts Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, a decision its inhabitants strongly opposed by staging a fight with harmless things, such as water and flour. Later on, rotten food was added or any food that is soft and slippery. Given these later additions, it is recommended that you take a rubber suit if you wish to participate in the fight, otherwise it might take you two days to rub off the smell, though there are quite a few people who go in undeterred.
For those who crave for some fighting and anarchy, events like these are the only legal and harmless ways of getting their share of these things. Check out pictures from the previous events on the Xhain, Berlin-Motive and Berlin Sidewalk websites. Here is some footage from last year and here is what happened this year. The Digi 24 TV channel produced a short piece on this year’s festivities, which can be viewed here.
Looks like loads of fun, though I don’t what to image how much it must take to clean this mess up afterwards.
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