After a two-year Corona break, rockets and firecrackers can be ignited again on New Year's Eve in Germany. In Berlin, the police speak of a significant increase in operations. Accidents also happen at night in other parts of the country.
In Germany, for the first time since 2019, people celebrated New Year's Eve largely without restrictions caused by the pandemic. The police drew a mixed preliminary balance on Sunday night. For example, while the police headquarters in southern Hesse ended the first half of New Year's Eve "without any major anomalies", the Berlin police reported "significantly" more operations than in the past two years.
As the capital's police wrote on Twitter, police officers and firefighters were "massively attacked with firecrackers" when extinguishing a burning car. "We are now securing the firefighting with additional emergency services." 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. The Berlin fire brigade wrote on Twitter that a fire engine was massively damaged by the "fire from pyrotechnics".
Also in the capital, the windows of a shop were "blown away". "Our colleagues came quickly and were then literally shot at," the police tweeted. An officer suffered injuries. In Mitte, a woman was injured in the neck by a firecracker. The police also reported fireworks from other parts of the city: "Idiots shoot pyro at passers-by
In Thuringia, two men suffered serious injuries from exploding fireworks on New Year's Eve. In Friemar (Gotha district), a 42-year-old was so seriously injured when handling firecrackers ordered from the Internet that both forearms had to be amputated, a police spokesman said. In Schleiz-Crispendorf (Saale-Orla district), a 21-year-old lost his hand in an accident involving an explosive device. The illegal ball bomb exploded as soon as it was ignited, the spokesman said. Despite the serious injuries, the men are not in mortal danger.
In Düsseldorf, a woman was killed in an argument in an apartment on New Year's Eve. A 33-year-old man is said to have used a knife against the woman for unknown reasons, a police spokesman said. He was not able to provide any information on the exact course of events. The victim died at the scene of the crime in the Vennhausen district. According to the spokesman, the altercation was not during a New Year's Eve celebration. The relationship between the victim and the alleged perpetrator was initially unclear. The 33-year-old was arrested.
In Frankfurt/Main, a New Year's Eve rocket ignited in front of a high-rise building first set fire to a balcony on the sixth floor and then the apartment. A woman suffered smoke inhalation. Two men were injured in an explosion in the basement of a residential building in Teupitz, Brandenburg. Fire broke out. The police said pyrotechnics had been used.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, eleven-year-olds in Ellerstadt and Wörth am Rhein suffered burns from fireworks that others threw at them. In Baden-Württemberg, a man was seriously injured by a self-ignited firecracker that hit the right side of his face. According to the police, the 39-year-old had to be taken to a special clinic by helicopter after the accident in Hohberg.
The Saxony police spoke of "smaller fires due to misdirected pyrotechnics". According to the police headquarters in southern Hesse, the number of operations due to "riots, fights and other disputes" was "on the usual 'weekend level'" until midnight.
