New Year's Eve in Berlin: Number of offenses increases dramatically!

New Year's Eve in Berlin: Number of offenses increases dramatically!

At the turn of the year 2024/2025, the Berlin police published alarming figures: A total of 1,453 New Year's Eve were registered, which means an increase of 125 cases compared to the previous year. Among the offenses there are particularly many property damage (531 acts), violations of the weapons law (274) and assault offenses (241). This was confirmed by the police in a message published yesterday, in which it is also pointed out that even in designated fireplace zones, crimes were found, such as 14 incidents on Alexanderplatz and eight in Sonnenallee, while no such crimes were recorded in the stonemason kiez.

The police were able to identify 670 suspects in connection with these incidents, 406 of whom German and 264 had a different nationality. In addition to the crimes, there are 58 attacks on emergency services and an attack on an emergency service employee. It is particularly worrying that 44 of the injured emergency services were violated by crimes, with eight of them being violated by the use of pyrotechnics. According to the police, the figures are temporarily and could increase through late registrations, as [berlin.de] (https://www.berlin.de/polizei reports/2025/Pressemaytreichung.1518151.php) reported.

strict controls and illegal pyrotechnics

In the run -up to the New Year's Eve festival, increased controls took place in Berlin with regard to the sale of pyrotechnics. From December 28, 2024, a total of 116 controls were carried out in cooperation with the regulatory offices of the districts. Almost seven tons of illegal pyrotechnics were confiscated, including dangerous ball bombs and weapons of fright. These measures led to the initiation of 44 investigations due to violations of the explosive law and the weapons law, as well as [rbb24] (https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/biebtrag/2025/01-straftaten-2024- Boellerverbotszone-pyro.html) reported. The police intend to continue to observe the evaluations of the incidents to ensure security in the coming year.