Crowds targeted emergency responders with rockets and homemade explosives.
A bus on fire on the streets of Berlin on New Year’s Eve (Image: NIUS)
Germany’s capital descended into chaos during New Year’s Eve celebrations, ushering in 2026, with police reporting more than 400 arrests amid widespread attacks using illegal fireworks. The night was marked by aggressive confrontations in hotspots such as Neukölln, Kreuzberg, and Moabit, where crowds targeted emergency responders with rockets and homemade explosives, echoing recurring issues in the city’s urban areas.
Authorities deployed 4,300 police officers—three times the usual number—and 1,600 firefighters to curb the violence, but these efforts could not prevent a grim tally of casualties. Berlin police initiated 670 criminal proceedings, mostly for the misuse of pyrotechnics, assaults, and arson. By the early hours of January 1, 37 officers had sustained injuries, including one severe leg wound from a “Kugelbombe” or spherical shell, which required surgery. One spectacular clip appeared to show a bus in flames.
A firefighter was also hurt during operations, while many other officers suffered “blast traumas” from close-range explosions, highlighting the extreme dangers faced by first responders.
Civilian casualties mounted rapidly, overwhelming local A&E departments. At Berlin’s Trauma Hospital (UKB), 42 people received treatment for severe fireworks-related injuries, including devastating damage to hands, faces, and eyes.
The Charité hospital handled 49 similar cases in a 24-hour span, with surgeons describing wounds akin to “war injuries” caused by illegal devices. Several individuals lost fingers or parts of their hands in explosions across the city, with at least eight such cases reported at UKB by 1 am alone.
Tragically, children were among the victims. In Tegel, a ball bomb blast injured eight people, including a seven-year-old boy who underwent emergency surgery for life-threatening wounds, alongside two other lightly injured minors.
In Schoneberg, five civilians were hurt in another detonation that was powerful enough to damage buildings and displace residents from 36 flats.
The mayhem extends far beyond Berlin, with national reports underscoring the perils of unregulated pyrotechnics. In Brandenburg, a 21-year-old man died from injuries caused by a device he was not licensed to handle. Nationwide, five men perished due to exploding fireworks.
Among the severe non-fatal cases, a 23-year-old man near Rostock lost his left hand when a “firecracker” detonated in his grip, requiring immediate admission to hospital.
Similar incidents were reported in other regions; a 14-year-old boy near Rostock also lost his left hand to a firecracker blast, while a 16-year-old girl in Leipzig lost her little finger and parts of her ring finger after mishandling an illegal device.
Police seized over 220,000 illegal fireworks in Berlin alone, but enforcement struggled against the sheer scale of the disorder. Officials noted that while preventive measures like weapon bans and pyrotechnic restrictions mitigated some risks, the night marked a “low point” characterised by damaged infrastructure and traumatised communities.
As investigations continue, calls for stricter fireworks regulations are growing amid warnings from hospitals about the preventable, “combat-like” toll on young people.
