Dusseldorf/Berlin.
New Year’s Eve could again be celebrated without corona restrictions. In many places, however, the celebrations were overshadowed. This is the balance sheet.
The after two years first New Year’s Eve without corona-related restrictions kept police and fire brigades in suspense all over Germany. Several people lost their lives. Accidents with fireworks and attacks on security forces overshadowed the celebrations in many places, including in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In Berlin, the fire brigade reported more than 1,700 missions, almost 700 more than a year ago. Under the impact of the events, the police union (GdP) renewed its demand for a ban on firecrackers. “We have seen across Germany that pyrotechnics are being used specifically as a weapon against people,” criticized the Berlin GdP boss Stephan Weh. That must come to an end.
Many injured, some people lost their lives
firefighters as well Police officers in NRW and in many other countries, the turn of the year is likely to be remembered as stressful. Several people died and many were injured. A 66-year-old died in a house fire in Balve. In Düsseldorf, a woman was killed in an altercation in an apartment in Düsseldorf on New Year’s Eve (more information can be found here). A 17-year-old injured himself so badly when using pyrotechnics in Leipzig that he died in the hospital. In Saxony-Anhalt, a man was hit and killed by a car while banging on the street. In Essen-Katernberg, a man and his little daughter suffered serious injuries when fireworks were set off (click here for the article). In Jülich, a man lost two fingers while handling firecrackers.
Emergency services complain about inhibitions
Emergency services complained uninhibited, which met them. In the Ruhr area, many of them were pelted with firecrackers, harassed and insulted. Five police officers were injured during an operation in Oberhausen. In Hagen, young people, some of whom were masked, erected barricades, which they set on fire. In the old town of Düsseldorf and in Cologne, security forces were on constant duty on New Year’s Eve. In Düsseldorf, the warehouse of a building materials store caught fire, fires triggered by pyrotechnics occupied the firefighters across the country.
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