Overview
- Firefighters, accompanied by police, dismantled the wooden ramp and all fixtures on Sunday morning with a crane, returning the channel to its pre-Christmas state in about an hour.
- The city points to an ordinance prohibiting installations in the Eisbach, with fines of up to €50,000 for those responsible for the unauthorized setup.
- Unknown activists had placed a plank-based device on the night of December 25, which briefly revived the internationally known standing wave over the holidays.
- Surfer groups denounced the removal as a “declaration of war” and accuse officials of blocking permits with demands for full liability, cost coverage, permanent on-call readiness, and bridge-level engineering proofs.
- The earlier, scientifically guided restoration effort coordinated with the city is on hold after surfers rejected the conditions, and advocates now urge the council to decide how to restore the landmark.