Berlin braces for New Year's eve against the background of recent attack at Christmas market

Record ID: 1893238

  • Title: Berlin braces for New Year's eve against the background of recent attack at Christmas market
  • Date: 30th December 2024
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (DECEMBER 31, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AMBULANCE GOING PAST BEING ACCOMPANIED BY POLICE AS PART OF MEASURES TO PROTECT EMERGENCY SERVICES THAT CAME UNDER ATTACK IN CERTAIN AREAS OF CITY WHEN BEING CALLED OUT AT NEW YEAR 2022 POLICE STANDING BY VEHICLES BERLIN, GERMANY (FILE - JANUARY 1, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FIREWORKS BEING THROWN ON STREET WITH PASSER-BY YELLING FOR THEM TO STOP VARIOUS OF BURNED-OUT BUS IN NEUKOELLN'S SONNENALLEE NEAR HOUSING ESTATE, WHOSE WINDOWS WERE SMASHED ON NEW YEAR'S EVE AND WHICH WAS SET ON FIRE WITH FIREWORKS BERLIN, GERMANY (DECEMBER 31, 2023) (REUTERS) STREET SIGN FOR SONNENALLEE CONSIDERED HOT SPOT BY POLICE POLICE CHECKING BAGS AND CONDUCTING BODY SEARCHES POLICE MAN BEING SEARCHED BARRIER AT NO-FIREWORK AREA
  • Embargoed: 13th January 2025 18:33
  • Keywords: Brandenburg gate New Year's party police security violent incidents
  • Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
  • City: BERLIN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA002011030122024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: "GERMANY" IS MISSING IN LOCATION ON SLATE
    A day ahead of New Year’s Eve, (December 30) German Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, said that the police will be given extra support on location during the night.
    “All perpetrators should know that if they are planning on doing anything there will be a hard response", Faeser said.
    Only a week after a deadly attack in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, security measures around crowded events are an ongoing topic of debate in the country.
    On December 20, a man from Saudi Arabia drove a car into a crowd of people on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killed five people and left over 200 injured.
    In 2016 a man drove a lorry onto a Christmas market in Berlin, left 67 people injured and killed 13. Since then, roadblocks are customary at most Christmas markets in Germany. At the Magdeburg market only one lane was left without roadblocks to allow the access of emergency vehicles. Why no police car was guarding the area when the attack took place is part of ongoing investigations of the incident.
    In preparation for the New Years eve event at the Brandenburg gate foldable roadblocks, fences and security cameras were already lining the streets on Monday (December 30).
    According to local media, up to 65,000 people are expected to attend the stage program at the gate, and over 5000 police officers from different areas in Germany will be present on the streets of the capital.
    During the celebrations in 2022 the city saw attacks on police and fire service members which left 18 police officers injured and 103 people arrested. According to Faeser, a heightened police presence on Berlin's streets last year led to a calmer unfolding of the night from December 31 2023 to January first 2025.
    (Production: Lena Toepler, Oliver Barth, Claudia Doerries, Tanya Wood)
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register