Graffiti vandalism in Bremen: Police hold sprayers in the act!

Graffiti vandalism in Bremen: Police hold sprayers in the act!

in Bremen-Mitte, more precisely in the district of the station, the police were able to catch a 36-year-old graffiti sprayer in the early morning of 4 July 2025 in a fresh act. Around 4:30 a.m., an attentive witness watched the perpetrator, who sprayed graffiti at five different locations, including the Herdentorsteinweg and the entrance area of ​​a discotheque. Other places of activity were a trash can, an advertising table on the Brake and a wall on the Breitenweg. Thanks to the rapid reaction of the witness and the then alarmed police, the preliminary arrest of the accused color vandal was achieved. The incident happened shortly after interior senator Ulrich Mäurer had announced a harder approach to illegal color vandalism. The criminal investigations into property damage are ongoing, with punishment of up to two years threatening deprivation of liberty or fines. In addition, civil law claims for damages up to 30 years, as News today reports.

The incident is part of the discussion about color vandalism in Bremen, which interior senator Mäurer described as a "plague". A new approach to combat illegal graffiti is proposed in a recent advance of the Bremen interior authority. Partners in this project are the energy supplier SWB and its subsidiary Wesernetz, who operate a total of over 1600 transformers-many of them are popular target objects for graffiti artists. The SWB board spokesman Karsten Schneiker emphasizes that you should feel responsible for a clean cityscape. In the new town, the association Hoppenbank will support very affected areas, and will support the Weser-Kurier.

a holistic approach to color vandalism

interior senator Mäurer emphasized that the city can no longer ignore not only the aesthetic but also the economic damage to color vandalism. In 2021, almost 800 crimes were registered in Bremen in connection with illegal graffiti and tags. The aim of the new cross -departmental concept is to take measures to increase the educational rate and react faster to the damage. Two approaches are particularly important: the promotion of creative projects to beautify public space and measures to support the cleaning of graffiti. The Senate plans to regularly remove the smearings near tourist areas and ensure that discriminatory content is prioritized, such as the Senate Pressure Department describes.

For the implementation of the concept, however, clear financial means are required that are currently limited. While 40 public objects have already been cleaned in 2023 and 2024, the question of additional staff and budget for the measures is still an unsolved problem. Critics such as Wolfgang Budde from the Bremen Alliance against Colored Vandalism have asked to create a central point of contact for the problem and to do more educational work in order to raise awareness among the population.

The current incident with the arrest of the graffiti sprayer has again underlined the urgency of these measures. The Bremen police are dependent on the support of the population in order to maintain indications of such acts and to effectively counter color vandalism.