Scary night
Police report on Halloween: riots in Hamburg, firecrackers thrown in Berlin
A person is lying on the ground restrained by the police: There were riots in Hamburg on Halloween night
© Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa/Daniel Bockwoldt
Above all, Halloween means: colorfully dressed children looking for sweets. But there were not peaceful celebrations everywhere in Germany. An initial assessment of the police.
There were no major incidents in other major cities in Germany until the evening. In many places, people in costumes marched peacefully through the streets and called for trick-or-treaters.
The situation in Hamburg was tense. Initially 150 to 200 mostly young people gathered in the Harburg district. Their number then rose to 300 to 350. Firecrackers were thrown at emergency services, the spokesman said. The police tried to push back the crowd with water cannons. The situation was not out of control. There were arrests or detentions. A number was not initially available. It was unclear whether there were any injuries.
A dpa photographer reported that the police repeatedly asked the mostly young people to leave the area. When they did not comply with this request, water cannons were used. There were also incidents in the Lurup district in which, according to the police, around 50 young people were involved. They set off firecrackers – windows of a retail store were damaged and garbage containers were set on fire. A year ago, young rioters had already caused a major police operation.
“Someone doesn’t understand Halloween”
The police said in advance that around 1,000 officers were on the move in the capital Berlin. It was said that emergency services from Brandenburg, Bavaria, Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein were involved. Police said that throughout Berlin, passers-by and emergency services were occasionally pelted with firecrackers or shot at with pyrotechnics. “Someone didn’t understand Halloween. The first advertisements have been written.”
In Frankfurt am Main, the police reported that there had been occasional firecrackers and egg throwing. “Without any major incidents,” said a spokesman. According to the respective operations centers, the situation in Leipzig, Cologne and Munich was calm. According to the fire department in Hanover, garbage containers burned in several parts of the city. It was unclear that evening whether there was a connection to Halloween.
In many places, Halloween was peaceful
In several regions of Germany, the police had announced that they would increase patrols on Wednesday night. In the run-up to the festival, the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) in Rhineland-Palatinate and the police in Lüneburg (Lower Saxony), among others, warned not to overdo the pranks. For example, throwing eggs at houses, tearing out plants and graffitiing cars constitutes damage to property, the Lüneburg authorities said.
In many places in Germany, Halloween was peaceful. In Essen, as darkness fell, people paraded through the city in disguise – although significantly fewer than in previous years. A police spokesman said 100 participants were registered under the motto “City and country in zombie hands”. In fact, around 20 came. Some of them wore elaborate costumes with lots of fake blood and masks.
Halloween probably has its roots in Celtic mythology. According to tradition, ghosts and demons wreak havoc in autumn. The festival is celebrated today on the evening before the church feast of All Hallows’ Eve, the feast day on which Catholics remember the deceased.