02/01/2023 09:58 (act. 02/01/2023 09:58)
A police car patrols Berlin on New Year’s Eve. ©Portal
The return of the big New Year’s Eve firecrackers in Germany has been overshadowed by serious accidents and crimes involving fireworks and attacks on emergency services.
A 17-year-old in Leipzig was so seriously injured using pyrotechnics that he died in hospital, police said. In response to the attacks, a blanket ban on fireworks in private hands is being discussed.
33 rescuers injured
Berlin police reported massive attacks on emergency and rescue services on New Year’s Eve. The fire brigade and the police accounted for a total of 33 injuries in the capital’s emergency services. The firefighters were surprised “by the mass and intensity of the attacks on our forces”. Among other things, beer crates and fire extinguishers were thrown at vehicles, rescue workers were shot with pyrotechnics while fire extinguishers and emergency vehicles were looted.
In response to the attacks, the Berlin police union, among others, are demanding that a comprehensive ban on fireworks be taken seriously. Politicians opposed a blanket ban on fireworks on New Year’s Day. However, the criminals’ behavior should not mean “that many peaceful revelers should also be subject to a general ban on fireworks”, it was argued.
“Taken Under Fire”
In the capital, police and firefighters were “massively attacked with rockets” while extinguishing a burning car, the police tweeted. Colleagues were “literally under fire”. On New Year’s Eve, young people from Schöneberg threw fireworks into the street and at police, and five involved were provisionally arrested. In the preliminary balance sheet at the turn of the year, the Berlin police recorded 103 arrests.
serious injury
Several people were seriously injured by pyrotechnics. A 42-year-old man in Gotha had both his forearms amputated after handling fireworks ordered online, police said. In Schleiz, a 21-year-old young man lost his hand in an accident involving an explosive device. The illegal ball bomb exploded as soon as it was triggered.
In Hanover, a 46-year-old man had to be operated on overnight. He had placed a firecracker in a metal box, parts of which exploded in the explosion. A man from Weißenfels in Saxony-Anhalt has completely blown out his left hand. A man in Jülich lost two fingers in a fireworks accident. According to police, the 27-year-old had pasted several approved fireworks. When lighting fireworks in the street, a pedestrian in Saxony-Anhalt was hit by a car and fatally injured.