Enlarge image

Water cannon deployment in Harburg: The police took action against rioters

Photo: Daniel Bockwoldt / dpa

After the Halloween riots in Hamburg, the police have so far initiated a total of 33 criminal proceedings. The officers provisionally arrested four people and 15 men in custody, the authority said. The personal details of almost 250 "troublemakers" had been determined. In addition, the emergency services issued 132 expulsions and 51 residence bans. Three police officers had suffered minor injuries – including bruises and gunshot wounds – but continued to perform their duties.

Nationwide, a number of property damages, disturbances of the peace and brawls were reported. In many places, however, costumed people marched peacefully through the streets, demanding "trick or treat".

In the Harburg district, however, according to police, 150 to 200 mostly young people initially gathered. Their number then rose to 300 to 350. Firecrackers were thrown at emergency services, said a spokesman. The police tried to push back the crowd with water cannons. Around the Harburger Ring, the forces initiated a total of eleven investigations, including on suspicion of breach of the peace and suspicion of dangerous and/or serious bodily harm.

At its peak, up to 150 people had gathered in the Osdorf district. There, the police seized almost 40 illegal firecrackers. A 17-year-old boy chanted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans. He is now being investigated on suspicion of incitement to hatred. In the Lurup district, around 50 young people rioted. They had set off firecrackers, windows of a retail store had been damaged and garbage containers had been set on fire.

"The majority of children and young people have traditionally used the scariest day of the year to peacefully go from door to door," said police spokeswoman Sandra Levgrün. "Unfortunately, this year, too, mostly youth groups have used the Halloween festival as an excuse to specifically attack emergency services."

In view of the events, the Hamburg Police Union (GdP) warned of increasing violence in Germany and in Hamburg. "It can no longer be denied that we have an ever-increasing problem with violence in Germany and in Hamburg," said board member Horst Niens.

Firecracker and egg throwing

According to police, about 1000,100 officers were on the move in the capital Berlin. According to the report, emergency services from several federal states were involved. Throughout the city, passers-by and emergency services were occasionally pelted with firecrackers or shot at with pyrotechnics, the police said. About 100 people had gathered at Wilhelmsruher Damm in the north of Berlin. There were firecrackers and bottles thrown at police officers, later emergency services were pelted with stones. Eggs had landed on a radio car. According to the information, about <> people also gathered in the Graefekiez in Kreuzberg and pushed garbage cans onto an intersection. A burning barrel was extinguished by the fire brigade.

There were also riots in Kiel. According to police on Wednesday, about 50 mainly young people gathered in a parking lot in the Mettenhof district, ignited firecrackers as well as smoke bombs and emptied fire extinguishers. With twelve patrol car crews, the police tried to bring the situation under control. At the same time, onlookers arrived, so that the officers met about 100 people. Subsequently, there were some clashes in which officers were repeatedly pelted with firecrackers.

According to police, six people were injured in a brawl with up to 30 people after a Halloween party in the Baden-Württemberg fire department. Also in Schönecken in Rhineland-Palatinate, according to witness statements, around ten people had beaten each other with fists on the edge of a Halloween party, the police said.

In Mannheim, the officers had to go out on 64 missions on Halloween night – 32 times because objects had been pelted with eggs. In Frankfurt am Main, the police reported that there had been isolated firecrackers and eggs throwing. A 17-year-old shot a man in the face with a pepper gun and slightly injured him, he was then arrested. In Bavaria, too, the police reported several egg throws, partly at houses, partly at people.

bbr/dpa