Berlin’s 2024 commenced in chaos, according to German authorities, with riots breaking out across the capital city seeing police officers targeted.
Local police arrested several hundred people following a rapturous New Year’s Eve that saw rioters launch fireworks at authorities.
Videos posted on the night showed masked Germans shooting the fireworks across streets and at buses ushering passengers to events held across the city.
Officials had anticipated the activity and ordered an increased police presence across the city ahead of the night’s festivities several days beforehand, fearing a repeat of the 2022 New Year’s Eve riots, which saw thousands of incidents across Germany.
On New Year’s Day, they said that preparation had “paid off”, but officers made nearly 400 arrests, and several dozen police responders were injured in the process.
Approximately 4,500 officers were deployed to Berlin’s streets on December 31, a police presence not seen in the city in decades.
They arrested and temporarily detained approximately 390 people that night, many of them for violating the Weapons and Explosives Act.
Authorities reported that rioters had fired illegal firecrackers at officers and members of the public.
Around 54 police officers were injured in the process, and officials celebrated their work and preparation.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Iris Spranger, Berlin’s Senator for Interior, Digitalisation and Sport, said police had prepared for “many months”.
She wrote: “It turned out that the many months of preparation by police and firefighters…have paid off.”
Ms Spranger also condemned the violence, saying that “every injured colleague is one too many”.
Despite the violence and police injuries, 2023 was markedly less chaotic compared to New Year’s Eve 2022.
Riots across Germany saw cars set on fire and 41 emergency responders, including police officers, firefighters, and ambulance workers.
Newspapers reported at the time that emergency workers responded to a total of roughly 3,943 incidents in total.
