Berlin police deploy in force, face calmer New Year's Eve

Berlin police said on Monday that they detained around 390 people overnight on New Year's Eve in the German capital and have so far tallied just over 700 potential criminal investigations. 

Police spokeswoman Anja Dierschke said that 54 officers were injured, 30 of them by fireworks, after 4,500 police from the capital and other states deployed in a major operation launched because of more widespread unrest than usual last year. Only eight of them were unable to finish their shifts though, she said.

Despite the high number of arrests and injured officers, officials nevertheless described the operation as a success and the night as a more peaceful one than last year's. Dierschke said one reason arrest numbers were high was that the police presence was intensified, meaning officers could "intervene early and effectively."

Berlin's state senator for the interior, Iris Spranger, hailed the "comparatively few injured among the police," saying this showed how months of preparations had borne fruit. 

A spokesperson for the fire department referred to the situation in the city as a "normal New Year's Eve." 

Clashes on Alexanderplatz and in Neukölln

Germany lifts its standard restrictions on fireworks at New Year's. This can lead both to accidents and, in rare cases, has provided inebriated crowds hostile to police interventions with a handy means of retaliation.

On the previous New Year, there were riots and attacks on police officers and rescue workers throughout Germany, with Berlin being a major focal point of the unrest.

One of the incidents occurred near Alexanderplatz, where around 500 people threw fireworks at each other. Police then dispersed the group at the landmark Neptune Fountain and checked for fireworks, after which a group of 200 people fired pyrotechnics at police, leading to several arrests.

In Neukölln, a number of arrests were made after people attempted to make Molotov cocktails, which police say they confiscated.

In a separate incident, three arrests were made in Cologne in connection with a plot to attack the city's iconic cathedral.

Celebrations largely peaceful, two teenagers dead in firework mishaps

Meanwhile, New Year celebrations went on in Frankfurt in the central state of Hesse largely peacefully, according to police.

However, firecrackers and rockets were shot into crowds, and police made a number of preliminary arrests. Those detained were released after police checked their identity documents.

The fire brigade was not deployed in the city.

In Bavaria, police said an 18-year-old male was killed by an exploding firework in what they believe was a self-inflicted accident. An 18-year-old also died in a firework accident in the western city of Koblenz, after a 40-year-old man in Berlin was killed in a similar fashion on Saturday night. In the northern city-state of Hamburg, tens of thousands attended celebrations, including around 8,000 visitors.

While the fire brigade was deployed in Hamburg, it largely dealt with burning firecracker packaging and other minor fires involving rubbish.

msh, sdi/sms (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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