New Year's Eve in North Rhine -Westphalia: Violence and chaos despite fireplaces!
New Year's Eve in North Rhine -Westphalia: Violence and chaos despite fireplaces!
During New Year's Eve, tens of thousands of people celebrated the turn of the year in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The police recorded a total of 4,400 missions, including numerous attacks on emergency services with pyrotechnics. A tragic incident occurred in Geseke, where a 24-year-old man from the Paderborn district was killed by the explosion of a presumably self-made explosive device. The young man had put the explosive device 200 meters from his family on one field.
NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) said that the police were well prepared and many “chaots” pulled out of circulation at an early stage. In this context, 169 people were taken into custody and 13 were temporarily arrested. 17 civil servants injured in the attacks on police officers, but less than in the previous year. In Duisburg and Bocholt, there were serious injuries due to fireworks. In Duisburg, a man was seriously injured when a firecracker exploded in his hand, while another person in Bocholt suffered life -threatening injuries.
security situation and police operations
The police registered 362 assault offenses, including 245 cases of dangerous bodily harm. In addition, 645 criminal charges were admitted for property damage, which is an increase in comparison to the previous year. The fire brigade and rescue workers moved to numerous fires and accidents. In Duisburg, a forbidden firecracker damaged parts of a restaurant, while in Bonn young people fired a rocket on a sleeping homeless, which led to a shock in the man. Three of the young people could be identified by surveillance cameras.
In several districts of Cologne, the police and fire brigade were shot at with fireworks, which led to injuries to three officials. In Gelsenkirchen and Leverkusen there were also attacks with pyrotechnics on emergency services. In Hagen, a 24-year-old was taken into custody because he had thrown a patrol car with firecrackers. In total, emergency services with pyrotechnics were attacked from groups in 54 cases.
firecracker bans and regulations
The fireplace zones in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Münster were only partially respected. In Cologne, for example, the ban on the Rhine near the old town was often disregarded. In Düsseldorf, the police registered 148 violations in the corresponding prohibition zones. Over 2,500 fireworks were confiscated and destroyed. Some cities such as Essen, Duisburg and Dortmund banned the restaurant and rely on the insight of the citizens. In addition, mobile video surveillance units were used on hotspots to document riots.
In the context of dealing with pyrotechnics, cities in Germany are increasingly enacting regulations and firefights to minimize injury risks. Nationwide, pyrotechnics are prohibited near hospitals, children's and old people's homes, churches and fire-sensitive buildings. Additional prohibition zones can also be set up by cities. Penalties for violations of firecrackers can be several tens of thousands of euros, in Zwickau up to 50,000 euros are possible. These regulations aim to minimize the dangers of fireworks, such as demolished hands, fires and deaths, such as DetailsQuellen