New Year's chaos on the streets of Germany as five people are killed and 400 arrested with police and firefighters attacked with fireworks

 

Germany has been plunged into New Year's chaos after five people were killed by fireworks and 400 were arrested as rioters caused mayhem across the nation. 

 

While revellers across the country traditionally ring in the new year by setting off large numbers of fireworks in public places, last night's celebrations were heavily tainted by the use of fireworks against 

emergency officials.

Among the dead was a 24-year-old man who was killed by a homemade firework that is believed to have gone off prematurely near Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia

 

Police believe he had constructed the pyrotechnic rocket himself. 

 

In Berlin, 30 police officers and one firefighter were injured in confrontations or attacks during New Year's Eve, leading to 400 arrests, city officials said. 

 

Hundreds of police officers from across the country were deployed to the capital to help prevent further violence.

 

Terrifying footage showed windows getting shattered by the force of the explosions as Germans fled the area. 

 

In Cologne, police said that two officers were injured after fireworks had been shot at emergency service workers, while Leipzig saw 50 people attack firefighters and cops.

 

 

Over in Neuwied, a small city in western Germany, though, police believe a firework was used to set a warehouse ablaze at around 1am.

 

'At the site a large warehouse, storing timber among other things, was discovered fully ablaze,' Neuwied/Rhein police said in a statement. 

 

Affected locals were cleared from nearby homes by emergency services and the fire was brought under 

control, it said.

'Work to extinguish the fire continues. The severe heat build-up also caused damage to nearby buildings', local cops said in a later update. 

 

They estimated costs to be in 'a medium six-figure range.' 

 

 

              Street Set On Fire and An Apartment building was lit ablaze by the fireworks

 

The German government on Wednesday condemned the series of incidents on New Year's Eve.  

 

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said: 'The deployment of strong police forces from the federal states and the federal police and an early and consistent crackdown are the right means against perpetrators of violence and chaos. 

 

'However, the many arrests in Berlin alone and the renewed attacks on police officers also show that this crackdown was absolutely necessary.'

 

 

Police officers stand guard as fireworks burst during New Year's celebrations in Berlin, Germany, January 1, 2025
 

 

She wished all injured officers a speedy recovery and vowed that all perpetrators will be 'prosecuted and punished with the utmost severity.'

 

The rest of the world, meanwhile, largely celebrated the new year peacefully. 

 

More than one million people packed the area around Sydney Harbour to watch around nine tonnes of fireworks be blasted from the famed Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The self-proclaimed 'New Year's capital of the world' welcomed in 2025 11 hours before Big Ben rings in the new year in London.

 

Celebrations were more muted in South Korea after the country was rocked in recent days by political turmoil and the Jeju Air plane tragedy, with a moment of silence held for the 179 victims.

 

With Seoul's famous Lotte Tower countdown called off and parties cancelled, the new year milestone was marked by somber crowds who watched as the traditional Bosingak bell was rung, without the performances that usually accompany it.

 

In Japan, crowds gathered at Tokyo's Tokudai-ji to offer their prayers for the new year and take part in the yearly bell-tolling to mark the start of the new year.

 

In Brazil, revelers at Copacabana Beach were treated to a 12-minute long fireworks display over the shore, as the celebrations moved to the Americas, where thousands of people packed New York City's Times Square to watch as a 12-foot ball adorned with nearly 3,000 crystals dropped at midnight, despite rainy and stormy weather. 

 

The first place to ring in the new year was Christmas Island, officially known as Kiritimati, which is home to more than 7,000 people and is the farthest forward timezone in the world.

 

The island, which is part of the small nation of Kiribati, was followed by Tonga, Somoa and New Zealand's Chatham Islands soon after.

 

 

 

Source:  Daily Mail