He has been working for the Berlin fire brigade for twelve years. But around the turn of the year he was really scared in his job for the first time. Chief fire chief Baris Coban (34), responsible for the Neukölln district, describes the horror riots on New Year’s Eve to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. The festivities escalated, in the German capital alone the fire brigade was called 1,717 times and more than 50 fire and police personnel were injured.
Firecrackers or missiles that some shoot at law enforcement and rescue workers — “much is not new to us,” says Coban. That alone is sick. “But this year was a completely different dimension.”
Shortly after midnight, the fire brigade commander was alerted because a carriage had been set on fire. He was assigned to a fire engine with five colleagues. Time was running out. Because directly above the residents of a retirement home threatened to be poisoned by the smoke.
“First time I didn’t put out a fire”
But according to Baris Coban, “this barricade was already up” halfway. “Wood planks, construction site barriers and a burning dumpster.” When the firefighters got out to put out the fire, the almost unbelievable: “People were running up to shoot us with blank cannons.” There were hundreds. “They came out of the dark and quickly disappeared after each attack. Some were masked.”
His colleagues were also really scared, says Coban. “We were just pissed off.” They left behind the burning dumpster, ran back into the fire truck and drove off. “It was the first time I didn’t put out a fire.”
The commander of the fire brigade also says that he has caught an attacker. “I wanted to know why he’s doing it.” But there was nothing more than a torrent of insults. Coban: “I don’t know where that hatred comes from.”
Young people film trophy videos
But that is not everything. Videos of that night are circulating online. Young people would have tried to sell recordings to television journalists. “Some of those are real trophies,” says fire chief Baris Coban.
The Berlin fire service reports: “We were surprised by the mass and intensity of the attacks on our emergency services.” One of them was “bewildered and sad”.
The German government was shocked by the attacks on the rescuers. Demands for heavy penalties and further consequences were already expressed on Monday. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (64) condemned the violence “strongly” and called for better protection of the emergency services, AFP news agency reported.
Politicians in particular think of prohibitions. “So far, the cities have had good experiences with fireworks prohibition zones,” says the general director of the German Association of Cities, Helmut Dedy (64), the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”. In addition, CDU politician Jens Spahn (42) blamed a failed integration policy for the escalation to the news portal “t-online”. (two)