New Year’s Eve, which was marked by riots and attacks on emergency services in Berlin and other parts of Germany, has started a discussion about the ban on pyrotechnics, writes the BBC.
In the German capital alone, 41 police officers have been injured, and there have been dozens of attacks on firefighters. The mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey, condemned the violence as absolutely unacceptable. Although some members of the public have pointed to the foreign origin of the youth and invoked migration problems, Giffey insists that the riots have more to do with the social environment in the city than with migrants.
Berlin was not the only place where violence was experienced. There have also been reports from other major cities about rockets fired at emergency vehicles, explosions and even shots from starter pistols.
The police informed that 145 arrests were made in Berlin, most of the arrested persons were men, of which 45 were Germans, 27 Afghans and 21 Syrians. This ignited a debate, and also led to the question of whether disclosing the nationality of the violators has been beneficial. The German Press Code states that nationality can only be disclosed if it affects the public interest.
Reem Alabali-Radova, the integration commissioner of the German government, has called for the offenders to be tried by offense, not by nationality.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has said that a discussion about the background of the riots is needed, but that it should not incite racist attitudes.
However, the minister told the Funke newspaper that Germany’s big cities have problems with «young men of migrant origin who despise Germany, commit crimes and cannot be reached by education and integration programs.»
However, part of the problem is also the lifting of the temporary ban on the sale of pyrotechnics before the New Year celebrations. After a two-year hiatus, the authorities allowed the use of pyrotechnics from six o’clock on New Year’s Eve to six o’clock on New Year’s morning. A police representative later stated that the sale of pyrotechnics should be banned altogether.
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