German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) announced a consistent approach by the police against hooligans or perpetrators of violence before the New Year’s Eve celebrations. In an interview with the “Tagesspiegel”, she referred to possible “sensitive freedom penalties” for attacks on police or rescue forces.
“No one wants to experience senseless violence, chaos, or noise on New Year’s Eve. Therefore, the police have my full support if they consistently take action against hooligans or perpetrators of violence” Faeser said. She announced that the federal police will be in strong deployment on New Year’s Eve, and the recently issued bans on weapons and knives at public events will be “strictly controlled”.
The minister also warned of attacks on police officers, firefighters, and paramedics. “Whoever attacks police or rescue forces with rockets, firecrackers, or in any other way must be severely punished. Sensitive freedom penalties are possible here” Faeser said to the “Tagesspiegel”.
“I appeal to all those celebrating New Year’s Eve: Respect the work of the deployment and rescue forces so they can protect others and help people in need. The deployment forces deserve the greatest respect and best possible protection. For the police, fire, and rescue forces, the New Year’s Eve is a hard and often dangerous deployment – after a year that has already been very demanding for them” she said.
Faeser called on the Bundestag to quickly pass a law to better protect police and rescue forces. “We want it to be the case in the future: Up to five years in prison if police officers, paramedics, or doctors are lured into dangerous traps” Faeser said, looking at an amendment to the Criminal Code that the cabinet had approved in September, before the collapse of the Ampel coalition. The draft law is currently being debated in the Bundestag.
The new law is to enable the federal police “to deploy Tasers across the board, to stop dangerous perpetrators and protect the deployment forces” the SPD politician said. She appealed to the Bundestag: “The draft law should be passed as soon as possible.