Big party at the Brandenburg Gate: Germany welcomes 2023 with fireworks

For two years, the corona pandemic spoiled the New Year's mood for many people.

Big party at the Brandenburg Gate: Germany welcomes 2023 with fireworks

For two years, the corona pandemic spoiled the New Year's mood for many people. Now for the first time there is a big party at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. However, there are some changes compared to before.

Germany welcomes the year 2023. Many people celebrated the turn of the year with fireworks in unusually warm weather and strong winds in some places. This time firecrackers and rockets were allowed to be bought again at the turn of the year. In the two previous years, sales were prohibited due to the corona pandemic.

For the first time, there was a New Year's Eve party with an audience at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. However, the celebration was much smaller than in previous years - those who wanted to come had to buy tickets in advance, and instead of their own fireworks there was a light show. With 2500 people, the celebration was still fully booked. The rush at the Brandenburg Gate was already large in the early evening. Numerous visitors had come without a ticket and were looking for admission.

From 8:15 p.m., ZDF broadcast its show "Welcome 2023" with Andrea Kiewel and Johannes B. Kerner from the gate. Just before midnight, the Scorpions played a new version of their anthem "Wind of Change". Because of Russia's war against Ukraine, they slightly adjusted the text.

Away from the Brandenburg Gate, there have been several incidents with New Year's Eve fireworks in the capital. As the police wrote on Twitter, police officers and firefighters were "massively attacked with firecrackers" when extinguishing a burning car. In the Tempelhof district, pyrotechnics and a fire extinguisher were thrown at a bus. The front windshield was destroyed. According to the police, 60 to 80 people tried to light a vehicle with fireworks in the Lichtenrade district.

Hundreds of people gathered on the banks of the Main in Frankfurt am Main to welcome the new year. At 11 p.m., the police blocked the "Eiserner Steg" pedestrian bridge, where many revelers traditionally watch the New Year's Eve fireworks in front of the Frankfurt skyline. "It would just be too dangerous to let more people onto the bridge," said a police spokesman.

The police in Düsseldorf went on New Year's Eve to operations with "various rioters and people hitting each other". The operations were spread across the entire city area. According to a dpa reporter, Düsseldorf's old town was "crammed full". According to a spokeswoman, the police in Cologne were deployed with hundreds of forces "at different hotspots". With increasing alcohol consumption, firecrackers were also fired in the direction of people, said a police spokeswoman. In addition, as the alcohol level increased, there were also minor arguments and bullying.

(This article was first published on Sunday, January 01, 2023.)