"Shot at passers-by with firecrackers and rockets": Munich shocked by Berlin's New Year's hell

Created: 08/01/2023 18:28

The riots on New Year's Eve shocked Berliners - and they still reverberate in Munich.

Especially among those who were in the capital at the turn of the year.

Like two Obergiesingers.

Munich – The vocational school teacher remembers war-like, frightening conditions and has therefore also turned to Berlin's governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD).

A spokesman answered him, but Wolfgang Ehmer (62) does not feel that he is being taken seriously.

He believes that the events of New Year's Eve are underestimated and downplayed.

Guests from Munich wanted to end the year on a good note in Berlin

Actually, the Ehmers wanted to end the year on a nice note with a trip to Berlin, and their youngest son Simon (25) was there too.

But they felt insecure even before the turn of the year.

"The madness started on December 30th," reports Wolfgang Ehmer.

On that day he walked the Ku'damm.

"Men shot firecrackers and rockets without considering passers-by." No one intervened, he says.

That shook him.

People flee from firecrackers and riots, emergency services are attacked with firecrackers: a scene from New Year's Eve in Berlin.

© Julius Christian Schreiner/TNN/dpa

On December 31, the couple had dinner in a restaurant on Savignyplatz in Charlottenburg.

After that, around 10 p.m., Wolfgang and Karen Ehmer wanted to walk through the city and watch the fireworks later – but rockets and firecrackers thwarted their plans.

Because young men ignited the firecrackers on Kantstrasse near Savignyplatz in such a way that they flew across the street, says Wolfgang Ehmer.

So he and his wife decided to go back to the hotel.

But because of the chaotically flying missiles, the short walk became a real gauntlet.

Many citizens and tourists were in danger

Wolfgang Ehmer

"When we finally got to the hotel, the lobby was full of frightened guests," he says.

Nobody dared to go out.

And what happened to Ehmer there in Charlottenburg, his son also experienced.

At the time he was in the Bergmannkiez in Kreuzberg in the Böller-Hölle.

"The friends didn't leave the apartment," says Ehmer.

"It wasn't just people with a migration background who were involved in the banging"

The debate about Berlin's New Year's Eve has been simmering for days.

Some politicians are calling for a ban on firecrackers - also because there have been almost systematic attacks on the police, fire brigade and rescue workers.

That is frightening - but an incomplete account of the events, says Ehmer.

"Many citizens and tourists like us were also in danger."

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Wolfgang and Karen Ehmer from Obergiesing were in Berlin for New Year's Eve.

© private

That too must be discussed.

He calls for a debate that illuminates all dimensions of the night.

For Ehmer, this also includes: “Not only people with a migration background were involved in the banging – but also.”

For Munich, Ehmer would like fireworks to be officially organized in a central square.

City politicians also take a stand on the topic of firecracker bans.

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In Munich there is no need for a general ban on fireworks - Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) and district administration officer Hanna Sammüller-Gradl (Greens) agree on this topic.

Nevertheless, there is a need for improvement, both say - and thus agree with CSU boss Manuel Pretzl.

There is currently a ban on fireworks in parts of the old town and a ban on firecrackers within the environmental zones of the Mittlerer Ring.