On the night of New Year’s Eve there were dozens of incidents of attacks with firecrackers and other objects against police officers, firefighters and rescuers operating in various cities
“A big problem with some young men with an immigrant background,” Interior Minister Nancy Fesser said, referring to attacks on security forces across Germany and especially in Berlin on New Year’s Eve. We are seeing a “violent refusal to integrate,” Ms. Feser stressed, and called for the situation to be handled with a “steady hand” but “without provoking racist resentment.”
On the night of New Year’s Eve there were dozens of incidents of attacks with firecrackers and other objects against police officers, firefighters and rescuers operating in various cities. The events caused serious reactions from the opposition, but also from the government. “We have a big problem in German cities with some young men with an immigrant background, who despise our state, commit acts of violence and are difficult to reach with education and integration programs,” the interior minister told the Funke Group newspapers, stressing that the state of law should draw its conclusions: “We must clearly show the limits to those who refuse to integrate and are willing to use violence, but without provoking racist resentment,” he noted and called for swift and severe punishment of offenders. “Young violent offenders must face significant criminal penalties. Penalties must be assessed immediately. This creates respect for our constitutional state, which should not allow violent young offenders to terrorize their neighbourhoods,” Ms Feser added. He even clarified that among those who suffer from this behavior are other immigrants, who, as he said, have no understanding of violence and riots. “We have a duty to protect them,” he said.
Responding to the controversy that has erupted over how to deal with young violent offenders, Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffay (SPD) has announced the organization of a forum on youth violence. Speaking earlier this evening on German public broadcaster ARD, Ms Gifai admitted that there had been serious incidents in some parts of the capital, resulting in the injury of 33 police officers, and suggested that psychologists, social workers and security services work together to find sustainable solutions to the problem. He also announced additional protection measures for security services personnel, which mainly include cameras in their vehicles, while also referring to the need to review the free distribution of firecrackers and stun guns.
As the Berlin police announced, 145 people were arrested in the early hours of Sunday, of which 139 are men and two thirds are under the age of 25. 45 of those arrested have German citizenship, while 18 nationalities were ascertained.
“It is clear that the government in Berlin cannot deal with the situation,” said Christian Democratic Party (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz, accusing the SPD-Greens-Left government of having limited the police’s ability to act “for politicians reasons”. The issue comes to add to the pre-election controversy, as the state and federal elections of September 21, 2021 are repeated in Berlin on February 12, after widespread irregularities and failures were found during the electoral process. Similar episodes, however, were recorded on the night of the change of time in other German cities.
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