Seven months after violent New Year’s Eve riots rocked Berlin, resulting in hundreds of injuries and widespread damage, German authorities have secured only two final convictions related to illegal pyrotechnics.
The low number of prosecutions was revealed in a parliamentary inquiry by Martin Pätzold, a CDU Berlin state MP, who told Tagesspiegel, “A total of 363 people were injured by illegal fireworks on New Year’s Eve, while at the same time, only two people were convicted of crimes. A clear disproportion is evident here, even at first glance.”
According to the state interior ministry, Berlin police recorded 547 crimes involving fireworks or rockets during the night, along with 111 administrative offenses under the Weapons or Explosives Acts. Yet the vast majority of cases remain unresolved or have been dropped.
Among the two people convicted is 23-year-old Atallah Younes, a Palestinian social media influencer born in the West Bank and holding a Jordanian passport. Younes was filmed firing a firework rocket through the open window of a Berlin apartment, an act that started a small fire but caused no injuries. He was arrested at Berlin Brandenburg Airport on Jan. 4 while allegedly trying to flee the country.
Berlin’s district court handed Younes a six-month suspended sentence, a punishment condemned by the Berlin Police Union. Deputy Chief Thorsten Schleheider wrote, “If you walk out of a courtroom with a light suspended sentence for such madness, no one should be surprised that young men organize something like this for a few clicks on social media.”
Critics say the light sentences and limited convictions send the wrong message. “The constitutional state must adapt its investigative capabilities to ensure that criminals can be convicted with reliable evidence,” Pätzold insisted, calling for targeted video surveillance in hotspot areas.
The wider picture is even more alarming. According to Bild, not one person arrested during the 2022 New Year’s Eve riots was sent to prison. Berlin police recorded 3,943 incidents that year, including attacks on emergency services, torched vehicles, and fireworks launched into homes. Fifteen firefighters and 47 police officers were injured. Of 145 arrests, only 45 were confirmed to be German citizens — and even this figure includes dual nationals categorized by the state as “German.”
A leaked list of the first names of 256 suspects of last year’s suspects, published by media outlet Nius, revealed that a large number of the so-called “German” suspects had names such as Abdul, Hassan, and Mohammed, prompting allegations of migrant involvement and public outcry. In total, 670 suspects were arrested, with 264 identified as foreign nationals, while many others classed as “German” had migration backgrounds as indicated by their first names.
The government has provided no clear explanation for the low conviction rate. State Secretary of the Interior Christian Hochgrebe (SPD) pointed to technical limitations in police systems, which do not distinguish between legal and illegal fireworks.
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