Wednesday 19 August 2026: Roller-skating paradise on Augustusplatz, ground-breaking ceremony for the skate park, emergency services seeking new recruits

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From the day after tomorrow, people will be able to skate again on Leipzig’s Augustusplatz. That’s because Europe’s largest mobile roller-skating rink is stopping off in the city once again this year. We got a first glimpse today. Right next to the exhibition centre, the first spades were driven into dry earth today in Wiederitzsch. A new skate park is being built here. And: on the Marktplatz, the fire service is recruiting potential apprentices until tomorrow. The LZ summarises the key events from Wednesday, 19 August 2026, in Leipzig and beyond.

Roller-skating paradise on Augustusplatz gets underway

Lena and Kristin were still just doing a few practice laps for the cameras, but from Friday onwards, anyone interested will be able to lace up their roller skates again for just under four weeks. From 21 August to 16 September, Europe’s largest mobile roller-skating rink will once again be making a guest appearance on Augustusplatz. It has a diameter of 35 metres and, covering an area of 885 square metres around the fountain in front of the opera house, offers plenty of space for both experienced and less experienced roller-skating enthusiasts.

Organiser Arnold Bergmann estimated at today’s press conference that the venue in the heart of Leipzig city centre attracted around a quarter of a million curious visitors last year, although by no means all of them dared to take to the fast-paced rink. It was a colourful mix of ages, with one regular visitor in his 80s particularly standing out in people’s memories as he regularly skated his laps on the blue surface. Some people enjoyed the roller-skating rink so much that, despite being asked to leave, they simply refused to go home in the evening. Bergmann revealed that this had even led to a full-blown brawl on the final day back then.

The organiser would certainly prefer to do without that sort of incident this time round. However, the regular roller-skating discos on weekend evenings will be back. The rink is open daily from 11 am to 10 pm. You can bring your own roller skates (admission 5 euros) or hire them on site (admission 8 euros). Inline skates are not permitted. To mark the start on 21 August, the official opening will take place from 7 pm, featuring, amongst other things, Latin American guitar music and vocals from Cuba’s most famous musician, Tony Avila. The full programme and further information can be found here.

Ground-breaking ceremony for skate park in Wiederitzsch

“Today is a good day for Wiederitzsch and the north of Leipzig!” said local councillor Stefan Artmann (CDU) at the official ground-breaking ceremony for the new skate park, which is to be built right next to the Leipzig Trade Fair. It has now been six years since he sat at his kitchen table at home with his children, dreaming of building such a facility. Now, construction machinery is being set in motion to make those dreams a reality.

Together with Heiko Rosenthal, the councillor responsible for sport, Skadi Jennicke, the councillor responsible for culture (both from Die Linke), as well as representatives from the Department for Urban Greenery and Waterways, Gala Service Wurzen and skaters from the Heizhaus, local mayor Artmann carried out the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony. According to the current plan, the opening is finally set to be celebrated in spring 2027 on the hilly green space, which covers around 2,600 square metres. The opening had originally been targeted for October 2026, but has stalled somewhat due to the town’s tricky budgetary situation. After all, around one million euros are to be allocated to the project.

The project has been given the go-ahead and construction is now underway. And it’s a thoroughly ambitious undertaking: “One of the biggest challenges in building skateparks is the particularly demanding shotcrete work – in this case, around 950 square metres of dedicated roller sports surface is being created,” the town announced. “The new ‘Street-Flowpark’ will be designed as a circuit. Among other things, a so-called ‘pumpline’ will allow riders to descend the steep downhill section and ride back up again. ‘Jumpbox’ and ‘wallride’ features will provide the popular speed section.”

Just like the skatepark at the boiler house in Grünau, which has been established for years, the new facility being built in the north is also set to become a magnet for the whole city and beyond. Not only for sporting activities, but also as an attractive meeting place for all age groups.

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Emergency services seek new recruits

Today and tomorrow, the Leipzig Fire Service is once again organising the so-called ‘Emergency Services Days’ on the market square. The aim is to spark young people’s interest in vocational training within the fire service and emergency medical services. To this end, pupils in Years 9 and 10 at Leipzig’s grammar schools and secondary schools are being specifically invited to attend. During specific time slots at the event, pupils will then visit four practical stations where they can learn about various training and career opportunities within the Fire Service, talk to emergency service personnel and experience their equipment first-hand.

“We will continue to need well-trained and dedicated staff in the future to ensure safety in our city,” says Axel Schuh, Head of the Leipzig Fire Service. “With the ‘Blue Light Days’, we want to showcase the diversity of our professions and inspire young people to pursue a career with the Leipzig Fire Service.” However, to ensure that all other Leipzig residents could also ask their questions and take a look at the technically sophisticated vehicles, the site was open for two hours this afternoon specifically for this purpose.

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What the LZ reported on today:

2027 mayoral election in Leipzig: Wolfram Günther intends to stand for Alliance 90/The Greens

Baby shaken to death? Mother charged with manslaughter at the Regional Court

Hello Leipzig: How Wednesday 19 August 2026 begins

The war is elsewhere: An in-depth report on life in Russia in the midst of Putin’s war

On 22 August: KlimaFair invites visitors back to the market square

Leipzig study: What would a ‘summer of the century’ look like in the future under the current climate?

Other important news:

Yesterday, police in Munich’s Schwabing district shot a person who was apparently handling a firearm. It emerged today that the injured person was a 14-year-old schoolboy carrying an airsoft pistol. His condition is said to be stable.

FC Bayern star Jamal Musiala has collapsed on the pitch again within three days. He has now spoken out on Instagram about his health and reassured concerned fans: “I have been diagnosed with temporary, brief-onset absence seizures, which are easily treatable and are attributable to a neurological dysfunction.” This is a form of epileptic seizure, as a doctor explains in more detail on Tagesschau.de.

A diver from Ukraine was arrested today in Croatia on the initiative of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe. The man, who was the subject of a European arrest warrant, is accused of being linked to the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022. This is the second arrest in the sabotage case. The suspect had already been apprehended once before in Poland last autumn. However, the Polish judicial authorities refused to extradite him to Germany, so he was released.