Scrapping of Berlin swimming day for Black children becomes latest in long list of race-linked pool rows

Berlin’s Volksbühne theatre said it had extended the invitation in the hope of dismantling some of the barriers that kept Black children away from the pool. Photograph: John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images

It was meant to be an outing for Black children in Berlin and their families, offering them an exclusive afternoon at an outdoor pool set up by a local theatre.

But the plans, slated for earlier this month, had to be scrapped after they were seized on by rightwing and conservative voices to whip up outrage, leaving organisers fending off racist emails and threats.