Das Fruit War

September 11th was not just the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the USA but here in Berlin the date of the annual “fruit war” between the East (Friedrichshain) and the West (Kreuzberg) In the middle of a bridge not far from where the Berlin wall once stood there is apparently an annual condoned war fought with fruit, water balloons, paint and other things guaranteed to keep dry cleaners in business.
We heard about this event last night as a recommendation by Toby our Swiss House-mate as a place to take my Father who had just arrived in Berlin. Thinking it best to skip a riot with my seventy one yr old father we instead went out to a lovely Sunday brunch and then walked it off all day at the Zoogarten. A nice family outing right – My Father even offered to buy me a balloon and an ice cream.
We then headed back to Friedrichshain by U-Bahn- only to arrive right when the battleground was being set. While on the train across the bridge we saw the riot police and the crowds forming, then once at our station we saw thousands of people headed to the “war”. Many were armed in home made protective gear from garbage bags to elaborate paper shields – all were carrying various weaponry of fruit, some even with eggs, coffee ground, paint guns, and one guy was just pulling his rolling trash cans. There were children and dogs along – obviously this is also a family affair.
All day long we had been professing the charms of Friedrichshain’s lovely cafes and convinced my father to come to our neighbourhood for dinner, I hadn’t mentioned the potential of fruit warfare to my father so he was a tad alarmed to see punks armed with rotten tomatoes, beer and dogs greet us as we walked to the atelier.
The entire walk home – the people just kept coming – we realised we were in no imminent danger – but certainly decided it was not going to be a photo-op we would chose to participate in. Well I probably would have if not for my dear old Dad.
Then up drives Leo one of our fellow studio mates from Croatia. He has slime all over his pants. “Have you seen vat is going on out there” he yelled. He inadvertently stopped his car to pick up something from a store, noticed a burning vehicle and before he could flee was hit by a barrage of fruit salad. He said he was scared – “I thought vas war – like in home country – then vas ok- just produce” He then stayed and took a whole photo essay and had the orange juice stains to prove it. I was a little bit jealous.