Politicians and police warn of new riots on New Year's Eve

Rioting should not be talked up, but there is much to suggest that Berlin is facing a similarly difficult New Year's Eve as last year, GdP boss Jochen Kopelke told the Berlin daily "tageszeitung" ("taz" - Friday edition). He saw the basic problem as being that a growing group finds violence against others "hip". Attacks on police officers or paramedics promoted their own image.

Consistent punishments, better prevention concepts and more research are needed to counteract this, Kopelke demanded in the interview. At the same time, the question of why these groups are no longer being reached must be answered. "That is the task of politics. They have totally failed here."

Berlin's FDP leader, member of the Bundestag Christoph Meyer, also told the newspaper "Welt" (Friday edition) that there was a risk of a repeat of the riots at the turn of the year. He called for more active approaches to those posing a threat and a more timely police presence, as well as the widespread use of body cameras.

On New Year's Eve a year ago, emergency and rescue services were massively attacked in Berlin and other cities. In some cases, the police had to be deployed to protect firefighters from attacks while they were putting out fires. Similar riots are feared this year.

The police and fire department are preparing for numerous deployments. The planned large-scale deployment of police forces in the capital is the right thing to do "to get the drivers of the conflicts out of circulation early", Kopelke told the newspaper"taz".

On Thursday, the Berlin police and fire department appealed to the public in a video published on the X platform (formerly Twitter). "Don't attack us. Don't shoot us with firecrackers, rockets or alarm guns," it said, and also: "Please respect our work, give us enough space to do it and follow our instructions."

Fire department spokesperson Vinzenz Kasch told Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg on Thursday that after the attacks last year, projects with young people had been initiated in the affected neighborhoods and cooperation with the police had been intensified. "We can assume that there will be scenes like last year's again - but we have positioned ourselves differently now, in terms of coordinating with the police and informing our own emergency services," he continued.

Interior Minister Faeser warned against delaying the planned tightening of gun laws. "It would be irresponsible to only have this discussion again after another terrible act of violence", she told the Funke Mediengruppe newspapers (Friday editions).

The purchase and possession of alarm weapons must be more strictly controlled. "Unlike today, we want a firearms license to be required for the purchase and for checks to be carried out to determine whether the security authorities have any information," she said. She also advocated punishing offenders with at least one year's imprisonment if they lure police officers and rescue workers into dangerous ambushes.

The German Insurance Association (GDV) warned against property damage to cars. "As many cars burn on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day as in an entire month," explained GDV Deputy Managing Director Anja Käfer-Rohrbach. According to GDV estimates, firecrackers, cannon blasts and rockets are likely to set fire to up to 1,000 cars with comprehensive insurance at the turn of the year.

In Cologne, Mayor Henriette Reker (non-party) called on people not to be intimidated by terror threats. "I have every confidence that the Cologne police will do everything in their power to ensure that the people of Cologne have a safe New Year," she told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper (Friday edition).

Following indications of possible plans to attack Cologne Cathedral, a man was taken into custody on Tuesday and strict security measures were imposed for the place of worship.