Munich: The city celebrates New Year’s Eve so relaxed – Munich

When it finally strikes twelve on Wedekindplatz, some of them unpack their New Year’s equipment. A group of middle-aged men in heavy metal shirts do what they probably always did on this occasion: Put a champagne bottle on the floor, put the rockets in, and start fire. You are the only one here, at the former hotspot of Schwabing, who are celebrating an alleged normality. After all, only the sale of fireworks was forbidden, but not the firing of leftovers from the cellar. Only cannon strikes and other pure noisemakers remain prohibited.

The crowd – maybe 150 people – gratefully takes it on, most of them only have snap peas and sparklers with them. But thanks to the ban on firecrackers, nobody – unlike in previous years – has to be afraid of a bang or other injuries.

The curfew a year ago seems to have been forgotten

It is relatively civilized. People toast to each other, hug each other, a group of young people in a Mercedes convertible drives up and down Feilitzschstrasse, hooting and honking their horns. In front of the bars, for example To the new hat or that Offside in Marktstrasse, the guests are standing and looking forward to celebrating together again. The turn of the year a year ago, a silent night with curfew from 9 p.m., seems to have been forgotten. Somebody lights a fireworks display on Leopoldstrasse that looks pretty professional. It only takes a few minutes, the remaining stocks don’t seem to have given away any more.

Munich is celebrating again, albeit in a very reduced form and under the watchful eye of the police. A few hours beforehand, the center is full of officers’ personnel carriers. There are five buses at Marienplatz, the next a few meters further on Weinstrasse, and at Odeonsplatz anyway. After all, there is a ban on assemblies that must be monitored. More than ten people are not allowed to stand together. The same applies to the Isarbrücken, where there used to be heavy celebrations.

Every few minutes a cohort in uniform passes by, and a few passers-by in a celebratory mood wish the police officers a happy new year and a quiet mission. There is no trace of an aggressive mood, such as that prevailed at the Corona demos a few days ago. Anyone who remembers earlier years when, for example, Marienplatz or Reichenbachbrücke were dangerous pavements at the turn of the year, should also wish for such a relaxed New Year’s Eve in the future.

The guests of Alte Utting on the outskirts of Sendling also demonstrate what a casual and peaceful New Year’s Eve can look like. The predominantly young visitors sit relaxed around fire bowls and listen to a guitarist performing a funny mix of folk and rock ballads. If you don’t sit down, you wear a mask, the corona rules are strictly adhered to. At the entrance, the young man who checks the vaccination records has to turn away people who do not have them with them.

During the bag inspection, he also pulls out champagne and schnapps bottles brought from home and puts them in a box so that the owners can take them back with them later. No excess, no roaring drunkards, but still a lot of fun: The Utting’s motto of the evening has been summarized on a blackboard as follows: “Everything, everything will be fine”. The spring-like temperatures certainly contribute to the good mood. But it’s still not really full an hour before midnight in the popular party location.

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Also on Gärtnerplatz – also a notorious party hotspot during lockdown times – relatively few people hang around, meet friends, drink champagne. Two young women say that because of Corona they prefer to party outdoors instead of in a pub, it’s safe secure. There is a lot more going on at Stachus and Marienplatz, where there should be a few hundred people. Many young people have also gathered at Theresienwiese to celebrate. Some of those celebrating here have probably also scoured their cellars for rockets or stocked up on fireworks abroad.

All in all, the people of Munich are disciplined at this turn of the year. Many stayed at home to celebrate in a small group. Nevertheless, the police and fire brigade have a lot to do this year as well: As a preliminary New Year’s Eve balance, the police reported more than 600 missions and recorded around 120 disturbances of the peace, 50 physical injuries and several violations of the Corona rules. The officials said the night was “busy”. The fire brigade recorded 58 missions, 24 fires outdoors and four fires inside buildings. The fire brigade’s rescue service was alerted 341 times. Sounds like a lot, but in the opinion of the emergency services it is comparatively little. You speak of a “relatively quiet turn of the year at the low level of activity of the previous year”.

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