3500 police officers on New Year's Eve: rocket fire and arrests

Turn of the year - 3500 police officers on New Year's Eve: rocket fire and arrests

Berlin has started New Year's Eve with a large police presence in certain parts of the city and an initially rather clear situation. More than 3,000 police officers have been on duty since the evening, with the police visibly positioned on the streets, especially in the New Year's Eve hotspots of previous years in Neukölln, Mitte and Schöneberg. Overall, the situation was "relatively relaxed", said a police spokeswoman at around 9.00 pm. However, according to the police, around 500 people threw firecrackers and other fireworks at each other at the Neptune Fountain on Alexanderplatz.

Police officers dispersed and controlled the group, according to the Internet portal X (formerly Twitter). A group of 200 people in the vicinity fired rockets and other pyrotechnics at the police. "Arrests are being made." Around 9.30 p.m., there was talk of 20 arrests in the city so far, mainly for violations of the Explosives Act, often involving dangerous fireworks with illegal fireworks.

On New Year's Eve 2022/2023, there had been riots and attacks on police officers and emergency services across Germany, with Berlin being particularly affected. This year, the police were additionally concerned about the Gaza war following the terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist Hamas and the heated atmosphere in parts of the population of Arab origin in some parts of the city. A pro-Palestinian demonstration in the late evening was therefore banned. Around 2000 people took part in a demonstration in the afternoon.

In the early evening, Berlin's governing mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) announced that the police would take tough action against riots and excesses. A lot had been done in the area of prevention in recent months, Wegner said during a visit to a police station in Neukölln. "And tonight is the night, if necessary, the night of repression, when the rule of law will try to assert itself. And I am also sure that it will prevail."

Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) and Police Commissioner Barbara Slowik emphasized that the majority of Berliners celebrated peacefully, which applied to "99.9 percent of the people" in the city. Before New Year's Eve, the police had repeatedly emphasized that in such a large city, unfortunately not every riot could be prevented with fireworks.

Thousands of people celebrated at the Brandenburg Gate at the traditional New Year's Eve party, accompanied by high security measures. According to the organizers, 45,000 tickets had been sold by the early evening and the party was designed for up to 65,000 people. The stage show was broadcast live on ZDF. For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, there was also to be a firework display.

In Sonnenallee - previously one of the New Year's Eve hotspots for dangerous illegal fireworks - it initially remained quiet due to the fireworks ban zone imposed by the police. Walkways were cordoned off with bars for several hundred meters, and the passage of cars was stopped. The police illuminated intersections with floodlight towers. At entrances, all people who wanted to enter the prohibited zone had to show their bags. Long queues formed and some people protested.

In other streets of Neukölln, as well as in other parts of the city center, there were loud bangs. Some very loud explosions also indicated illegal firecrackers. Shots from alarm guns were also repeatedly heard. In the evening, an explosive device detonated so violently in a supermarket parking lot on Sonnenallee that the shock wave could still be felt 30 meters away.

According to the police, a parked police car in the Gropiusstadt district of Neukölln was severely damaged by the explosion of a ball bomb. However, there were no police officers in the vehicle at the time.

Over the course of the evening, the police repeatedly posted short reports of prohibited shots being fired from alarm guns, for example in a subway station in Neukölln. Other people shot at each other with missiles. Bystanders were also attacked: "10 youths in Lankwitz fired rockets at apartments and an underground car park", for example. Earlier that afternoon, a man in Gesundbrunnen had fired rockets from a balcony at children walking past.

Other people injured themselves with fireworks and had to be treated before nightfall, according to the police. A 40-year-old man lost a hand from an illegal signal rocket in the Kaulsdorf district. The rocket exploded in his hand immediately after being ignited.

As on every New Year's Eve, the fire department reported numerous fires. There was a fire on the 15th floor and then also on the balconies on the 16th and 17th floors of a high-rise building in Prenzlauer Berg. In another apartment fire in the same district, an unconscious person was rescued. A cat died in the fire.

New Year's Eve is the busiest night of the year for the fire department with hundreds of rescue and extinguishing operations. More than 1500 paramedics and firefighters were on duty with 421 vehicles.

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