🔫🚂#516: CSD vigil, welfare cuts hit seniors, Kotti surveillance, scammer

Election campaigning begins

Aug 04, 2026

Hey 20 Percent,

I’m a bit of a public transport nerd so I was happy to see this beast upgrading an S-Bahn line I use daily, despite the disruption in service. When else to do this work than in summer?

Yesterday was my first day back on the S- and U-Bahn after a couple of weeks away. After a trip to the pristine Bavarian mountains, my beloved Berlin tranport seemed dirtier than ever. The U-Bahn stations, tunnels, cars and doors were caked with an even thicker layer of grime, gum, and mystery substances than before. Were the cleaners also on vacation?

A month ago, somebody power-washed the floors at an U-Bahn station I pass through a lot. It’s irrational, but just seeing those shiny, grime-free tiles brightened my mood. More power-washing please, BVG!

News below.

Maurice

sponsored

Berlin is transient.

People flake.

Making real friends as an international is hard.

Consistency is what’s missing.

The Analog Circle matches you to a group of 8 internationals who have dinner together in each other’s homes. You meet the same eight people every time. Over a year, they become people you can rely on.

Members also get access to community experiences, 1-1s and more. Our autumn cohort is open and there are 18 spots left.

Apply here to join.

CSD vigil

On Sunday, thousands, including local politicians, came together for a vigil in Tiergaren to honour the victims of the terrorist attack on the CSD pride march, at which one Polish woman was killed and 31 people were injured. On Saturday, hundreds of thousands showed up for Hamburg’s pride march and Berlin’s CSD association, which organises the event here, was represented by a float. Meanwhile, apparently as a direct reaction to the CSD attack, a Berlin court has allowed the police to monitor four people from the Islamist scene using GPS ankle devices.

Berlin’s elderly would be hit by cuts

Elderly Berliners could be massively affected by plans by the Merz government to cut housing benefit (Wohngeld) funding from €5 billion to €3 billion annually. According to stats released by the government, the number of pensioners relying on Grundsicherung (basic welfare) and Wohngeld in Berlin has surged, with the cost rising from from €287 million in 2020 to €521 million in 2025. The ranks of elderly housing benefit recipients has quadrupled since 2015 to 33,000. Women are disproportionately affected. Die Linke politician Pascal Meiser, who submitted the request for data to the federal government, warned that “an even greater wave of poverty amongst the elderly is set to sweep over the capital in the future”.

AI at Kotti

No, it’s not Kreuzberg’s latest unicorn startup, it’s the police. They’re testing AI-assisted video surveillance at the notorious Kottbusser Tor, with plans to expand to Warschauer Straße. Berlin’s head of interior affairs Iris Spranger (SPD) emphasizes the system analyses “movement patterns,” not faces. The €2.47 million pilot (2026-2030) aims to combat street crime in high-risk areas. Critics call it “expensive security theatre,” while police unions say it will boost public safety. While surveillance might have its place, I sometimes wonder why the hell the police set up their mini-police station at Kotti in the first place? It’s clearly made zero difference in the amount of dealing and using of hard drugs in broad daylight on the square.

Senior scammed

In a depressing way, this story brings together (fake) cops and seniors. Back in May, the (real) police say, a 76-year-old Charlottenburger was tricked into handing over his stash of gold by scammers posing as police officers, who falsely claimed his daughter was jailed after causing a traffic accident. Using what’s known as the “shock call” tactic, the fraudsters demanded immediate bail payment, and the victim complied by giving his actual gold to a stranger. Berlin police are now looking for the suspect using surveillance footage and have appealed to the public for information. I’ve been hearing stories like this among my friends for years — usually elderly parents being pressured into a forking over cash or assets to pay for some kind of emergency situation.

Events this week, curated by The Next Day Berlin

🎸 Ana Frango Elétrico
Thursday · 7 pm · Lido, Cuvrystr. 7 · €32-35
Ana writes, plays, produces and arranges, and the live band is where all of that comes loose. Bossa and samba sit next to post-punk guitar and funk without any of it reading as costume. One of the people at the center of the Rio scene currently rewriting how much Brazilian pop can hold at once.

🍿 Joshua Oppenheimer: THE END Friday · 9:15 pm · silent green, Gerichtstr. 35 · €6 A musical set in a bunker after the collapse, screened outdoors as part of Lost in Finity.

🔊 MAGMA Festival
Saturday & Sunday · from noon · RSO.Berlin, Schnellerstr. 137 · €50 per day, €107 for both
Second edition, two days, two stages, and a booking that reads like a map of where listening actually is. Saturday runs from the afternoon into the evening with Erika de Casier, Yaeji, Joy Orbison, DJ Python, Six Sex, Skin On Skin, Ata Kak, DJ Travella, and The Dare. MAGMA BY NIGHT then takes the same site through to morning with Blawan, Pearson Sound, Surusinghe, JAXX TMS and Garage Girls. Sunday continues on the same ground.

🛼 LOVEDANCIN' Roller Jam
Sunday · 3 pm · ZIK, Schloßstraße 78-82 · €25
Moodymann playing a roller rink is not a sentence that comes up often. LOVEDANCIN' takes over ZIK and puts skaters and dancers on the same floor, with skates rentable at the door.

🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺

👩‍🏭 Unemployment tops 3 million

🏳️‍🌈 Hamburg Pride returns with message of solidarity after Berlin attack

🚨 Rhine falls to record low levels

🛂 Germany deports Bob Vylan frontman for anti-Israel chants

🤖 Wagner opera’s AI backdrop meets loud boos at Bayreuth Festival

Factoid

According to the election rules, parties could start hanging up their posters for the September Berlin election at noon on Sunday. Some parties simply ignored the rule and began postering on Saturday. An estimated 250,000 posters are around the city. I’ve noticed something else: companies piggy-backing on the political posters. In my neighbourhood, an ad for a store buying and selling gold has been on lampposts since the weekend. Fun fact, about 10 years ago, when I briefly joined a political party, I volunteered for some poster-hanging work. It was mostly fun, though a few old men passing by chose to hurl an insult or two in my direction.

📫Postkutsche (mail coach)

Reader Naman wrote to us about a hobby coding project.

“I built bahnscanner.de - a free tool that lets you search Deutsche Bahn fares across flexible dates, kind of like Skyscanner but for German trains. You can find the cheapest day to travel over a range, browse a 30-day price calendar, or search round-trip cheapest pairs. I thought it might be a useful thing to mention to your readers. It's free, no sign-up required, and most people living in Berlin are on a train at some point.”

From our friends over at Berlin start-up CoachAmp…

You'd probably say you're a good friend. But when did you last check? Take five minutes with this free reflection from Coach Amp - a Berlin startup building tools for professional coaches. Rate the friendship you offer across five dimensions, from emotional support to actually making plans (not just “we should grab coffee sometime”). You get a visual radar of your strengths and blind spots - and can invite friends to add their perspective. No credit card, no spam. Occasionally humbling.

See your friendship radar →