Overview
- The city hired security through Christmas to guard access to the Rathausplatz with heavy movable bollards to prevent vehicle attacks.
- Because tram tracks cut through the market, workers use a lifting cart to move the barriers for every tram, reaching roughly one movement per minute at peak times.
- Short clips of the routine have spread nationwide, with many visitors posting the bollard work instead of traditional market scenes.
- AI-generated parodies and mock ads proliferate on social platforms, including fake Lego and Playmobil spots and a gag with an AI ‘Chuck Norris’ hoisting a tram.
- A vocational‑school teacher, Johannes Heinrich, created the retro browser game pollerpumper.de in under 24 hours, inviting players to “pump” the bollards and chase a leaderboard score.