Berlin: Concern about increase in anti-police violence
Last year the number of cases where policemen were resisted increased by three percent to 3,371 cases. The number of injured police officer went up by almost seven percent to 924, said police chief Dieter Glietsch yesterday. Glietsch told a parliamentary committee that this year Berlin sadly got to first place.
Comparing to a decade ago, though, Berlin has seen a significant improvement. There were improvements in both statistics: 4112 cases of 'resisting the authorities' were registered in 1999. The number of injured police agents in 1999 was 1787. Through the years there has been a continuous decline and this year was the first time it went up.
The police is concerned about 'spontaneous solidarity' at emergencies. In the last three years there were ten cases a year of sudden group violence against police agents.
Glietsch said yesterday these were mostly youth and young men of immigration background. In these cases there was a 'fundamental repudiation of state power and our values'. Since 2006, the police has been recording these riotous gatherings in its own statistics.
The incidents were only in Wedding, Neukölln and Kreuzberg. In Schillerpark 15 members of an Arab family attacked several policemen who requested they extinguish the grill. On the Badstraße, 70 people obstructed the police who wanted to protect a deranged young man from further self-harm. According to Glietsch, the police has a unit of 60 people which can be quickly called in for such riots and this has repeatedly proven itself.
Firefighters on duty were also attacked, mostly by drunks. In 2008 there were 17 attacks. By the firefighters there's a high number of estimated unreported cases, as many officers waived reporting it.
Many firefighters feel that subjectively, the attacks increased. A few weeks ago a Chilean family attacked paramedics who wanted to bring a wounded young man to the hospital. Eberhard Schönberg of the police union GdP says that the attacks are becoming more brutal. He says that anybody wearing a uniform attracts hatred.
Comparing to a decade ago, though, Berlin has seen a significant improvement. There were improvements in both statistics: 4112 cases of 'resisting the authorities' were registered in 1999. The number of injured police agents in 1999 was 1787. Through the years there has been a continuous decline and this year was the first time it went up.
The police is concerned about 'spontaneous solidarity' at emergencies. In the last three years there were ten cases a year of sudden group violence against police agents.
Glietsch said yesterday these were mostly youth and young men of immigration background. In these cases there was a 'fundamental repudiation of state power and our values'. Since 2006, the police has been recording these riotous gatherings in its own statistics.
The incidents were only in Wedding, Neukölln and Kreuzberg. In Schillerpark 15 members of an Arab family attacked several policemen who requested they extinguish the grill. On the Badstraße, 70 people obstructed the police who wanted to protect a deranged young man from further self-harm. According to Glietsch, the police has a unit of 60 people which can be quickly called in for such riots and this has repeatedly proven itself.
Firefighters on duty were also attacked, mostly by drunks. In 2008 there were 17 attacks. By the firefighters there's a high number of estimated unreported cases, as many officers waived reporting it.
Many firefighters feel that subjectively, the attacks increased. A few weeks ago a Chilean family attacked paramedics who wanted to bring a wounded young man to the hospital. Eberhard Schönberg of the police union GdP says that the attacks are becoming more brutal. He says that anybody wearing a uniform attracts hatred.
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