Even the heat wave passing over Europe isn’t enough to keep the popular public baths open, as authorities react to a rising tide of violence, allegedly by migrant men, by simply closing the tax-funded facilities down.

Violence at swimming baths, allegedly the work of “macho immigrants”, is once again headline news in Germany, with national newspapers complaining of “Coronavirus lockdown” like scenes with public baths, sometimes expensively recently refurbished at public expense, shut down to avoid violence. Several baths, notably the Columbia baths in Berlin as well as others in that city, and some in other cities including Mannheim and Karlsruhe have been impacted.

Die Welt laments “surrender to a comparatively small group of violent men” with the closures and reports the contents of an “urgent letter” written by employees to their management laying out the issues.