Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) has sharply condemned the attacks on emergency services on New Year's Eve. "Attacks on emergency services are always attacks on society and thus on all of us," said the head of government on Monday of the German Press Agency in Wiesbaden. "The images of violence from Berlin on New Year's Eve shocked me."
The emergency services deserve respect every day because they fight for the safety and health of the citizens every day. "Attacks and threats against police officers, firefighters and rescue workers are repulsive," warned Rhein. "Such acts must be punished with the full severity of the rule of law." There must be a new culture of appreciation for the emergency services.
In several cities across Germany, police and rescue workers were hindered in their work on New Year's Eve and fired on with firecrackers and rockets. The police and fire brigade in Berlin experienced a particularly large number of brutal attacks. "Thank God the situation in Hesse was different at the turn of the year, the night was largely calm and peaceful," said the Prime Minister.
Although the ban on burning New Year's Eve fireworks from the past pandemic years was lifted at the turn of the year, New Year's Eve in Hesse was largely quiet from the police point of view, the Ministry of the Interior announced. The police headquarters were in close coordination with the cities and municipalities but with increased forces.
The Hessian fire brigades, on the other hand, had had a significant increase in operations after the ban on fireworks was lifted. According to the ministry, the fire brigades in the country had to deploy more than 970 times in total. The majority of these were small fires such as burning garbage cans or hedges. In the two previous years, when the sale and firing of fireworks was prohibited, only 311 (2021/2022) and 99 missions (beginning of the year 2020/2021) were counted on New Year's Eve.
