Police gear up for New Year's Eve: Helicopters and sniffer dogs

Turn of the year - Police gear up for New Year's Eve: Helicopters and sniffer dogs

The Berlin police want to contain renewed New Year's Eve riots as far as possible with all the means at their disposal. A helicopter and explosives sniffer dogs are being used to search for large quantities of fireworks. The aim is to discover hiding places for illegal fireworks or even larger depots of legal fireworks for New Year's Eve, said Stephan Katte, head of police operations for the New Year, on Friday. Almost 100 potential rioters from hotspot neighborhoods such as Neukölln and Gesundbrunnen were approached and warned by the police as a precaution.

Two registered pro-Palestinian demonstrations on Sunday afternoon and late New Year's Eve in Neukölln will be postponed or, if necessary, banned by the police to prevent escalation. This year, a new no-fire zone controlled by the police will be set up in Sonnenallee, also in view of the demonstrations by Palestinian groups there following the terrorist attack on Israel. "It's better if we're already there," said Katte. Water cannons are on standby during the night, but are unlikely to be used, as this is neither sensible nor proportionate in the narrow streets in densely populated districts.

Head of operations Katte emphasized: "We will not be able to avoid every image of violence. But there must not be a feeling that some people, especially young people and young offenders, can do what they want."

The sale of fireworks began on Thursday and is permitted until Saturday. However, rockets and firecrackers may only be set off on New Year's Eve from 6 p.m. - at other times it is prohibited, but not everyone may be aware of this. In many streets in the city center, there has been a lot of noise for days.

On Thursday evening, 10 to 15 youths set off firecrackers in a playground in Charlottenburg and then attacked passers-by who admonished them. In Kreuzberg, three youths shot at a bus and passengers with a signal pistol and, according to a witness, also threw firecrackers from a moving car. The police caught two suspected perpetrators.

Police Commissioner Barbara Slowik said: "Almost four million people celebrate New Year's Eve peacefully in Berlin - and a few thousand cross the line with damage to property and attacks on uninvolved people or police officers and firefighters. That is only a small proportion. Our job is to provide protection and lay the foundations for prosecution." Focusing on Neukölln is not the right approach. There are problems in many places in Berlin and in other major cities.

3000 police officers from Berlin and other federal states are on the streets at night, 1000 more police officers are on duty in 220 patrol cars and in the 37 police stations. There are also 500 federal police officers at train stations.

Slowik also emphasized: "The Middle East conflict has changed the framework conditions." LKA Deputy Chief Stefan Redlich explained: "There is a high level of emotion in certain sections of society. Maybe some people want to vent their frustration. There would certainly be opportunities to do so on New Year's Eve. But whether this will happen is speculation."

For this reason, the LKA has launched so-called "Gefährderansprachen" and warned around 100 potential suspects: these include young men who attracted attention last New Year's Eve, some who were known to have rioted in swimming pools and members of the so-called Migrantifa, i.e. members of radical left-wing groups with a migration background. In addition, rioters from the days before New Year's Eve were to be locked up as a preventative measure.

Flying over the roofs in certain districts such as North Neukölln and Gesundbrunnen with the police helicopter and using sniffer dogs also has a deterrent and therefore preventative effect, said Katte. According to the LKA, several hundred kilograms of illegal firecrackers and rockets had already been confiscated in the days and weeks leading up to New Year's Eve.

Talks were already underway with the organizers of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on New Year's Eve, some of them in Sonnenallee in Neukölln. In view of the already volatile situation on New Year's Eve, the heated atmosphere in Neukölln and the fireworks that usually start in the early evening, the police said they had asked the organizers to move the demonstrations. They could not allow these demonstrations there and on that evening, said a high-ranking police representative.

Head of operations Katte admitted that the number of recorded crimes on New Year's Eve could be higher than last year, as could the number of injured police officers. However, this is not evidence of more violence, but of more police officers deployed and therefore more crimes recorded. The measure of the success of the police operation on New Year's Eve is whether the number of attacks on the fire department could be reduced.

The police have defined three hotspot areas for New Year's Eve: North Neukölln and Kreuzberg from Kottbusser Tor via Hermannplatz almost to High-Deck-Siedlung at the end of Sonnenallee. In addition, in the north of Berlin, the area from Moabit via Wedding and Gesundbrunnen to the Märkisches Viertel. As well as parts of the south of Berlin, for example high-rise housing estates in Lichtenrade, where the most violent attacks on firefighters and police took place a year ago.