Turn of the year - 2024 in the southwest with injuries, fires and attacks
The people of Baden-Württemberg celebrated the New Year largely peacefully. According to the organizers, around 14,000 guests came to Stuttgart's Schlossplatz alone, where Peter Schilling ("Major Tom") was the top act. However, the police once again reported several injuries from fireworks, attacks on emergency services, bodily harm and numerous fires after this New Year's Eve.
Attacks on emergency services
In the Stühlinger district of Freiburg, a group of around 80 people attacked several police officers with fireworks, according to police reports. One officer was slightly injured and suffered blast trauma, a police spokesman said on New Year's morning. The officers established the personal details of several suspected perpetrators and arrested one person. The emergency services had been called out early in the morning to reports of street barricades. On the scene, they found a car trailer parked across the road. Immediately after arriving, the patrols were attacked.
At the station forecourt in Aalen (Ostalbkreis), firecrackers were also thrown in the direction of the officers or patrol cars, according to police reports. One police officer suffered blast trauma. Fireworks were also fired at cabs and at a train, a post office building and a restaurant in nearby Bopfingen.
Three officers from Mannheim police headquarters were slightly injured, for example by pyrotechnics aimed at police officers, the authorities reported. In the area of Reutlingen police headquarters, officers were also attacked with fireworks, according to the police, but remained unharmed.
While extinguishing a firework battery in Bad Saulgau (Sigmaringen district), a firework exploded next to the firefighters. It can be assumed that it was thrown in the direction of the firefighters, the police reported. One firefighter subsequently complained of pain in his ear canal.
Injured by firecrackers
Fireworks also led to many other injuries. For example, a firecracker exploded in the hand of a man in Ulm before midnight, according to the police. The 20-year-old lost at least a few fingers, said a spokesman.
According to the information, two fingers were also severed from a man in Langenau (Alb-Donau district) when a firecracker detonated in his hand shortly after the turn of the year, which he had picked up from the ground. The emergency services also took him to hospital. Two men also suffered serious hand injuries from firecrackers in Starzach and at Rottenburg-Kiebingen station (both in the district of Tübingen).
In Pliezhausen (Reutlingen district), a seven-year-old sustained minor injuries when a youth fired a New Year's Eve rocket and hit the child, according to the police. In Tübingen, a rocket hit a 27-year-old man and slightly injured him in the chest.
Stuttgart Hospital, for example, recorded more serious facial and eye injuries from fireworks than in previous years on New Year's Eve. Patients had been standing too close to the exploding fireworks or had been looking into them at the moment of the explosion, reported senior physician Alexander Krohn from the emergency department in the morning: "This resulted in severe burns and significant facial injuries, including bony injuries to the facial skull." Three patients even had to fear for their eyesight.
During the celebration on Stuttgart's Schlossplatz, the police filed around 30 charges for possible violations of the Explosives Act. The city of Stuttgart had also set up a fireworks ban zone in the city center this year.
Fires on New Year's Eve
Misdirected rockets, carelessly discarded remains or even targeted fireworks led to fires in many places, for example on buildings, hedges or garbage containers. The fire departments in the southwest had planned for more personnel and were deployed in many places.
The cause of a fire on a resettlers' farm in Bühl (Rastatt district), which is estimated to have caused one and a half million euros worth of damage, was initially unclear. A farm building with agricultural equipment and produce was engulfed in flames on Monday night. According to the police, no one was injured.
Two senior citizens were injured in a house fire in Rheinstetten (Karlsruhe district) on New Year's Eve. The residents, aged 80 and 82 respectively, were taken to hospital with suspected smoke inhalation, according to the police. Initial estimates put the damage to property at up to one million euros. The plastic roofing of a terrace had reportedly caught fire. "According to initial investigations, a technical cause cannot be ruled out," it said. "There have been no indications of a deliberate act so far." The patio windows burst and the flames spread into the building.
A daycare center in Stuttgart is no longer usable after a fire. Several garbage cans first caught fire in an adjacent shelter. The fire broke windows, according to the fire department. Smoke also drifted into the building. Thanks to a neighbor's warning, the residents of the apartments above the daycare center were able to get to safety in time so that no one was injured.
And then there was...
The start of the New Year ended on a happy note - albeit with hypothermia - for a 17-year-old in Mannheim who was forgotten by friends after a New Year's Eve party in an allotment garden. According to the police, the teenager had fallen asleep. As the site is surrounded by a high fence and barbed wire and the gate was locked, he was trapped there. He called for help, which a local resident heard at around 5.00 a.m. - and called the police to rescue the teenager.
Police report from Freiburg Police report from Stuttgart Medical team Interdisciplinary emergency room Klinikum Stuttgart Police report from Ulm Police report from Mannheim on the forgotten party guest Police report from Mannheim on New Year's Eve Police report from Rheinstetten Police report from Bühl Police report from Reutlingen Police report from Aalen
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- The operational force in Reutlingen anticipated an increase in criminality during the turn of the year in Baden-Württemberg's southwest.
- The operational force in Stuttgart hospital expressed their need for more resources due to the high number of firework-related injuries on New Year's Eve.
- The operational force in Mannheim was called to attend to a case of hypothermia in a forgotten party guest at the turn of the year.
- The operational force in Aalen investigated several reports of firework-related incidents and damage to properties on New Year's Eve.
- The operational force in Tübingen and Freiburg both reported incidents of fireworks being used as weapons towards emergency services on New Year's Eve.
- Peter Schilling, a renowned Brand from Stuttgart, entertained the crowd at Stuttgart's Castle Square during the New Year's Eve celebration.
- The operational force in Ulm had to deal with various cases of firework-related injuries, including the severe loss of a man's fingers.
- The operational force in Baden-Württemberg's Ostalbkreis and Schwaben districts received multiple reports of fireworks causing fires and injuries in their respective areas during New Year's Eve.
- The operational force in Mannheim had to respond to a call regarding a house fire caused by fireworks, resulting in injuries to two senior citizens.
- The operational force in Southwest Germany, particularly around Stuttgart and Ulm, faced significant operational challenges due to the misuse of fireworks and criminal elements on New Year's Eve.
Source: www.stern.de
