Cologne sees bubble-blowing flash mob protest

Bubbles in the air, everywhere you look around

A bubble-blowing flash mob turned up in central Cologne on Sunday, after reports that street performers were facing a bubble ban.

The crowd gathered outside Cologne's famous cathedral and filled the air with bubbles after a call went out on Facebook for people to protest against the perceived ban, although city authorities now say it's all a misunderstanding. "We are starting the first official soap bubble flash mob on the Cathedral Square," the call to action on Facebook said. "We'll willingly let the administration ban us from some things. But not the right to blow soap bubbles."

The reaction seems to have been sparked by an incident on 8 October, when staff from the Office of Public Order took one bubble-blowing performer aside and explained that city regulations prohibit the "contamination of public spaces". One concern was that soapy residue could cause people to slip on cobbles, a spokeswoman from the office told Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger.

Engelbert Rummel, the office's head, says shopkeepers have been complaining about the detergent splattering windows and collecting in doorways. "We asked the street performers to go elsewhere, but there was no ban," Mr Rummel tells the Express website.

The flash-mobbers aren't alone in their concern. Mayor Henriette Reker is also pro-bubble, describing any suggestion of a ban as "absolute nonsense". "This beautiful and imaginative enlivenment and enrichment of the cityscape is not forbidden," she says. "How have we come to this?"

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