Attacks on emergency services at the turn of the year - three people killed by pyrotechnics
However, the police and fire department once again reported attacks on emergency services, particularly in larger cities. In Berlin, where, as in many other cities, the turn of the year took place under massively tightened security measures due to last year's riots, the police reported around 390 arrests. Throughout the city, police officers were attacked with pyrotechnics, alarm guns and bottles.
Around 500 people threw pyrotechnics at each other near Alexanderplatz. When police officers intervened, they were reportedly shot at with fireworks by a group of around 200 people. In Neukölln, nine arrests were made after suspects attempted to build Molotov cocktails from bottles, scraps of cloth and petrol.
The police in the capital reported 54 injured officers in a preliminary report, with pyrotechnics being the cause in 30 cases. One officer was seriously injured and taken to hospital. The Berlin fire department registered 30 assaults on its emergency services - less than half as many as last year. According to an initial assessment, no members of the fire and rescue services were injured.
In Hamburg, the police said they experienced a "comparatively quiet night with typical New Year's Eve operations". As the officers announced on Monday, up to 45,000 people were in the entertainment district around the Reeperbahn alone at peak times in the Hanseatic city.
During operations in other parts of the city such as Harburg and Altona, however, officers were reportedly shot at with firework rockets and pelted with firecrackers, sometimes on a massive scale. The police did not report any injuries in this context. Three arrests were made in Hamburg and 19 people were taken into custody.
In Hanover and Leipzig, among other places, people also sought confrontation with police officers during the night. In Leipzig, a police station was attacked and damaged. In addition, street barricades made of burning garbage cans were erected and pyrotechnics were thrown at police officers. In Hanover and Bremerhaven, three firefighters were injured by pyrotechnic attacks and were taken to hospital, according to the fire department.
In other German cities, however, the turn of the year was calm and there were no threats against emergency services. "The generally peaceful celebratory mood in Munich deserves special mention. The emergency services were mostly greeted with laughter, encouragement and kind words," the fire department in the Bavarian capital announced on Monday.
The police union (GdP) gave a cautiously positive assessment of New Year's Eve. Although the night was anything but peaceful in many places, the longstanding trend towards more and more violence was broken for the first time, explained union head Jochen Kopelke. Kopelke attributed the trend reversal above all to a strong police presence "at numerous hotspots".
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) considered the massive deployment of police forces on New Year's Eve a success. "In Berlin and other cities, it has been shown that a strong deployment with significantly increased forces and an early crackdown are the right means against riots and violence," explained the responsible minister.
Meanwhile, three young men died nationwide on New Year's Eve due to the explosion of pyrotechnics they were handling. According to the police, a 22-year-old man died in Boxberg, Saxony, when a ball bomb he had presumably procured illegally from abroad detonated prematurely next to him.
In the Bavarian town of Eschlkam in the Upper Palatinate, an 18-year-old threw a firecracker into a plastic pipe. He suffered fatal injuries because the firecracker exploded while he was holding his head over the opening. At the same time, an 18-year-old was seriously injured in the incident. Another 18-year-old died in Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate in an accident involving pyrotechnics. According to the police, he was fatally injured when a firecracker was set off.
There were also numerous incidents throughout Germany in which people were seriously injured in accidents involving fireworks. Some of those affected lost several fingers; in Hamburg, the fire department reported the amputation of an entire hand. Children were also among the injured.
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- The attacks on emergency services at the turn of the year extended to other major cities in Germany, such as Hanover and Leipzig.
- In Hanover, police officers were targeted with firework rockets, while in Leipzig, a police station was attacked and damaged.
- The fire department in Hanover reported three firefighters being injured by pyrotechnic attacks, adding to the list of casualties.
- Despite the violence, there were some cities in Germany where the turn of the year was peaceful, like in Newkölln, Berlin, where the police reported minimal incidents.
- In the city of Leipzig, people erected street barricades made of burning garbage cans and threw pyrotechnics at the police.
- The operational force in Berlin, along with other cities, had to deal with a significant increase in pyrotechnic-related incidents throughout the New Year's Eve celebrations.
- In Hamburg, while the police reported a relatively quiet night, officers were still engaged in operations in areas like Harburg and Altona where they were targeted by firework rockets and firecrackers.
- The Berlin fire department faced 30 assaults on its emergency services, with no injuries reported in an initial assessment.
- The operational force in Leipzig had to handle a number of attacks on police officers, marking a challenging turn of the year for emergency services.
- Throughout the year, the operational force had to be on high alert to prevent and manage incidents involving pyrotechnics, which claimed three lives nationwide.
- The emergency services, including police and fire departments, worked together to ensure public safety during the New Year's Eve celebrations, sometimes facing serious challenges that required their full operational capability.
Source: www.stern.de
