According to an initial assessment, there were in Berlin on New Year’s Eve police around 330 people were arrested. A police spokesman said early Wednesday morning that 13 police officers were injured, one of them seriously. The seriously injured police officer was allegedly hit by an illegal firecracker. He had to undergo surgery in a hospital. Several police officers and rescue workers were fired at with fireworks during their operations on New Year’s Eve, the spokesman said.
The police spokesman drew a positive conclusion with regard to the firecracker ban zones in several Berlin districts. “There was no major violence there. There were no major incidents there,” the spokesman said. Another police spokesman said in a video published on X that it had paid off that police officers protected firefighters during operations.
Limited emergency call availability
The Berlin fire department was also there New Year’s Eve in constant use, the emergency number 112 was temporarily only available to a limited extent. A major fire occurred in Kreuzberg, where, according to the fire department, a former parking garage burned “in its entirety on two floors.” Nobody was injured.
The residents of several districts were temporarily cut off from their water supply on Tuesday evening due to a burst water pipe. Before midnight the situation gradually returned to normal.
Police officers protected rescue workers
According to police, most of the arrests involved violations of explosives or weapons laws. The police went into the night with a large contingent of 3,000 additional officers. The number of personnel in stations and patrol cars was increased to 1,000. In order to prevent riots in the city and attacks on rescue workers as much as possible, the police largely relied on the concept from last year. She defined three hotspot areas where, based on experience, excesses and crimes can be expected. Rescue workers should be accompanied by police officers in the area.
In addition, as in the previous year, fireworks were prohibited, including on Alexanderplatz and in parts of Sonnenallee in Neukölln. Firecrackers and rockets were not allowed to be ignited here; only firecrackers or sparklers were allowed. The same applied to the area of the commercial New Year’s Eve party at the Brandenburg Gate.
There were also incidents elsewhere: In Leipzig, around 50 people attacked police forces with fireworks and bottles. According to the police there, two officers were injured by firecrackers in Cologne. Fireworks were fired at police and fire departments.
Something similar happened in Hamburg. In Munich, several hundred people rioted and, according to police, attacked officers. A police spokeswoman spoke of an estimated 200 to 300 people from the left spectrum on the Wittelsbacher Bridge.
Five dead in Brandenburg, Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia
The Berlin accident hospital reported five people injured by firecrackers on X around 10 p.m., including two seriously injured by home-made explosive devices. At around one o’clock the hospital announced that eight people were already in Berlin lost fingers or parts of their hand as a result of firecrackers on New Year’s Eve. Setting off illegal fireworks often results in serious injuries. According to its own information, the hospital significantly increased its operating capacity on New Year’s Eve, ten operating theaters are available and all hand surgeons are on duty.
In Frankfurt am Main there were already several people injured by fireworks at midnight. There were several messages about this, the police wrote on Platform X at midnight.
There were even fatal injuries in Brandenburg, Saxony, Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia. According to police reports, a person was killed by a New Year’s Eve firecracker in the Oberhavel district in the north of Brandenburg. There were also serious accidents involving pyrotechnics in other places in Brandenburg on New Year’s Eve.
According to police, a 45-year-old man who was handling a fireworks bomb died in Oschatz, Saxony. The man died in hospital from serious head injuries. According to a police spokeswoman, it was a large fireworks display in the F4 category, which can only be purchased and burned with the appropriate permit. Also in Saxony, a 50-year-old died when he tried to detonate a ball bomb in a pipe in Hartha near Döbeln. He suffered serious head injuries and died at the scene of the accident, a police spokesman said.
Another accident occurred shortly after midnight in Hamburg. A 20-year-old had a fatal accident there when he ignited pyrotechnics, the police said.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, southwest of Paderborn, a 24-year-old died while handling a firecracker, according to police reports. A police spokeswoman said they were also checking whether the fireworks were illegal pyrotechnics.
Police and rescue workers had prepared for a large-scale operation
After riots and attacks on rescue workers on New Year’s Eve in recent years, police and rescue workers prepared for a major operation that night. Around 3,000 additional police officers should be on duty in Berlin on New Year’s Eve, including reinforcements from the Federal Police. The fire brigade and aid organizations wanted to be deployed with more than 1,500 people.
At the traditional New Year’s Eve party at the Brandenburg Gate, tens of thousands celebrated the new year together with fireworks. No fireworks were allowed to be brought into the party; Knives and weapons were also forbidden. The police also set up a gun and knife ban zone in the area around the party mile. This also extends, among other things, to areas of the government district.
Because of attacks on emergency services in recent years, the Hamburg police had announced an increased presence, including in the train station and city center areas. In other cities such as Stuttgart and Munich, there were also ban zones for private fireworks and weapons, especially in inner city areas, which the police wanted to enforce with increased controls. More than 7,300 officers should be on duty in the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Storm limits celebrations
In some places, the turn of the year was quieter than planned due to the weather. In northern Europe, New Year’s Day was stormy for many. The celebrations on the beach promenade on Sylt were therefore canceled. In Great Britain, fireworks and celebrations had to be canceled in several places. At the traditional Hogmanay festival in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, all outdoor events and the fireworks at Edinburgh Castle were canceled due to stormy weather.
