Enlarge image
Police officers in Berlin stand behind exploding fireworks
Photo: Julius Christian Schreiner / dpa
According to the first official statistics, the Berlin police have so far identified 44 alleged attackers on police officers and firefighters for the New Year's Eve riots.
The vast majority of them are male adolescents or young men under the age of 25, according to the police as of January 17th.
Many of them were provisionally arrested on New Year's Eve, some only identified later.
A total of 126 specific attacks and corresponding criminal charges are now being determined on New Year's Eve.
Several newspapers had reported.
In some areas of Neukölln and in Gesundbrunnen in particular, groups of young men rioted with firecrackers and fireworks, shot at the neighborhood with rockets and repeatedly attacked the police and fire brigade.
According to a report by the “Tagesspiegel”, there were at least 282 attacks on police and fire brigade forces throughout Germany on New Year’s Eve.
The newspaper had asked all 16 interior ministries of the countries.
However, some federal states such as Hesse and Baden-Württemberg did not give any numbers of attacks on emergency services, which is why the actual number is probably higher.
Current numbers not final yet
In Lower Saxony, the police counted 42 attacks, in North Rhine-Westphalia as well.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, there were 34 attacks on emergency services in Bavaria.
Hamburg also reported a relatively large number of attacks on New Year's Eve with 19 attacks.
The Bundestag also wanted to deal with the incidents on New Year's Eve this Wednesday.
Of the 44 suspects identified in Berlin, 18 are foreigners, 10 have foreign and German nationality, and 16 have German citizenship only.
The proportion of people with a migration background in the third group was not reported.
Some of the suspect numbers and nationalities had been previously reported, leading to sharp political debates about integration and whether or not it would fail.
The current figures are not final either, the police emphasized.
Because videos and photos would continue to be evaluated to identify suspects.
In view of the many attacks, numerous other perpetrators can be assumed, but they could not be caught during the night and may never be identified.
bam/dpa