According to the spokesman, there are always cases of vandalism, especially in places that are remote. "There, the risk of detection is very low," he said. That also applies to the extensive park, which was created on the occasion of the 1979 Federal Garden Show, he said. Anyone who notices something should notify the police, the spokesman appealed. Officers also occasionally patrol the grounds.

The last incident had occurred on March 23. The Japanese Garden employee stated to the police that he had closed the garden at 6 p.m. the previous day. When he returned to work the next morning, he found that someone had torn the wooden fence at the entrance gate from its anchors. Photos taken by police at the scene in March show the covered entrance gate and fences lying on the pavement to the left and right of it. It is clearly noticeable how the fence posts were torn out of their metal sockets in the ground.

By Wednesday afternoon, the damaged areas in the fence have already been patched. Some sawdust still indicates the work that must have taken place here recently. The light color of the new bamboo shoots clearly stand(s) out against the dark green of the rest of the fence. Some plants are blooming in the bed in front of the repaired area.

In 2010, the city established the Rhine Patrol. The employees of the public order office usually controlled from the beginning of May to the end of September. The checks covered the entire inner-city bank to the left and right of the Rhine as well as the Rheinauenpark. In 2017, for example, some 895 administrative offenses were punished. The police were pleased with the support. "It was possible to hand over many operations that were previously served by the police. For example, disturbances of the peace, vandalism, and the inspection of parties and barbecues," said the head of the Godesberg station at the time.

Currently, the employees of Bonnorange noticed that there were significantly fewer barbecue parties in the Rheinaue, said a press spokesman for Bonnorange. This is probably due to the pandemic. There is also less broken glass in the park than usual.

Not only the fence has been damaged. The exit aids for wild birds, which were installed in 2019 in the Rheinauensee, have also been repeatedly destroyed in recent months. They serve to allow chicks to leave the waters when the water level is low. The Wildvogelhilfe Rheinland of the BUND and the association "Best Buddy Hilfe für Tier und Mensch" offered their help and built new wooden exit aids. They get the material for it from the city forester's office.

This winter, the restoration work on the lake should begin. When the enclosure wall is repaired, vandalism-proof exit aids will also be installed. (Original text: Dennis Scherer / Translation: Mareike Graepel)