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After riots and riots at the turn of the year last year, Berlin police are facing one of their biggest New Year’s Eve operations. According to police chief Barbara Slowik, 3,000 police officers from the capital and other states are on the streets at night. An additional 1,000 officers are present in patrol cars and police stations. There would also be 500 federal police officers at the train stations. Fire brigades and other emergency organizations want to be active with a total of more than 1,500 emergency services.

From the police perspective, riots cannot be completely prevented, but escalation must be prevented.

First riots in Kreuzberg and Neukölln

The police were already concerned before New Year’s Eve about the first riots and attacks on emergency services. On Friday evening, a group of about twenty people set off fireworks without permission in Kreuzberg and rioted. According to the police, it involved young people who fired fireworks several times near Mehringplatz.

A 14-year-old and other people from the group also threw two garbage cans and a shopping cart down the stairs to the “Hallesches Tor” metro station. Garbage and another garbage bin were set on fire. As he fled, the 14-year-old threw a chair at one of the police officers. During the later arrest, a group of people harassed the police. The group is now being investigated for disturbing the peace, it was said.

Civilian investigators and uniformed officers recorded further incidents during checks in Neukölln. A group of people on Halleschen Ufer threw fireworks at passers-by, the police reported on the online platform X (formerly Twitter). There were a total of 15 reports and fireworks were seized 18 times.

According to police, firefighters and other people were shot with fireworks on Thursday evening. Emergency services trying to extinguish a burning battery of fireworks on Mehringplatz in Kreuzberg were hit. On Oranienplatz, three young men allegedly fired fireworks at a bus and passengers from a car. And in Charlottenburg, according to police, young people set off fireworks and hit passersby who warned them to stop shooting.

Already injured by fireworks

The first signs of the coming new year were also visible in the accident hospital. “And so it begins before it begins…,” the hospital wrote on Saturday on X. They had already had to treat two patients with serious fireworks injuries.

The clinic is significantly expanding its operating room capacity on New Year’s Eve, a spokesperson said. “We assume that there will be continuous operations from 3 a.m. until late on New Year’s Eve,” it was said in advance.

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