Just es exactly one year ago, the scene had arranged via social media for "fun days" at Kaiserplatz. The motto was "Music, booze, chill, party". In 2021, residents of the square had been confronted with vandalism, dirt and noise. This time, the police and the city's public order service were prepared. "There were no difficulties with the group of people," was the balance at the police control centre on Sunday evening yesterday. "No intervention was necessary."

The city of Bonn also reported a mostly calm weekend in the city centre. However, there was an attack on a participant of the gathering. She reported being assaulted, robbed and thrown into the Kaiserbrunnen by a group of unknown men who did not belong to the group, city spokesperson Barbara Löcherbach told our editorial team on Sunday. They were also reported for urinating in a public place.

Police patrols and the city's public order service had increased their presence around the Kaiserplatz and the Hofgarten, where most of the 200 punks had congregated, in order to be available as contact persons for the people attending the event. Some of the punks had arrived with tents and sleeping bags and spent the night on the Hofgarten lawn.

"We would like to thank the city of Bonn and the police for keeping a close eye on Kaiserplatz and the surrounding area this year and for keeping things very peaceful for us," Andrea Forst-Raasch, owner of the Hofgarten pharmacy on Kaiserplatz, told our editorial team on Sunday. She also said that the city had taken precautions by setting up mobile toilets at the edge of the Hofgarten so that there would be no more fouling of the bushes at Kaiserplatz. Last year, some of the festival's participants had defecated there.

According to city spokesperson Löcherbach, the city even had to replace the mobile toilets on Saturday because they were being used so much. Forst-Raasch added that the fountain at Kaiserplatz, which had been shut down over the weekend, had probably also contributed to the fact that the punks had gathered at Hofgarten and only a few sat on Kaiserplatz.

Apparently, the rain late on Saturday afternoon and the subsequent rather cool temperatures had also induced some participants to leave early. Others who had sheltered in the underground station left the area after being approached by law enforcement officers after the rain, said Löcherbach. On Sunday morning, only a small group of about 30 punks sat on the Hofgartenwiese with beer and guitar music.

"A special thanks to the police chief Frank Hoever, to the head of operations police director Anja Gans with her team as well as to the head of the office of public order, Ralf Bockshecker with his team," Jannis Vassilou, chairman of the retail association, also praised the strategy of the city and the police.

As reported, several businesspeople from Kaiserplatz had written an open letter on Friday to Mayor Katja Dörner (Greens), to the council factions as well as to the police and the public order office demanding that everything possible should be done to ensure that this gathering would not again lead to massive noise pollution by loud music and contamination around Kaiserplatz. At that time, some of the punks had even defecated in building entrances, the traders reported. In their letter, they also complain about an already long-standing problem with homeless people and addicts around Kaiserplatz and also around the Kreuzkirche, with corresponding negative consequences for the cleanliness of the area and the feeling of safety for passers-by.