© dpa
In order to prevent New Year's Eve riots and attacks on the emergency services as far as possible, the Berlin police largely rely on the concept from last year.
According to the police, an additional 3,000 police officers will once again be on the streets on New Year's Eve.
"We will once again demonstrate our ability to react and assert ourselves against those who want to commit criminal offences on New Year's Eve," said Police Commissioner Barbara Slowik Meisel. "Last year, we succeeded in preventing the attack on emergency services - and that is our goal this year too." According to the police, more patrol cars have already been deployed in advance and there are more personnel at the police stations. Around 1,000 officers have been deployed in this area. They will be paying closer attention at the weekend to see whether unauthorised fireworks are being set off after the start of sales on Saturday.
As in the previous year, there are three no-pyrotechnics zones from New Year's Eve (6.00 pm) to New Year's morning (6.00 am): These are located at Alexanderplatz in Mitte, in the Steinmetzkiez area in Schöneberg and on part of Sonnenallee and neighbouring side streets in Neukölln.
No fireworks are allowed at the traditional New Year's Eve party at the Brandenburg Gate, where, according to the organisers, up to 65,000 people can celebrate. Knives and weapons are also prohibited there. In addition, the police have set up a weapons and knife ban zone for the area around the Brandenburg Gate this year. This includes the areas of Großer Tiergarten, parts of the Hansaviertel and the government district.
As in previous years, the police are expecting a large number of people to turn up spontaneously for the central fireworks display at the party at the Brandenburg Gate. The street Unter den Linden will therefore be generously cordoned off, according to reports. In addition, police cars will be positioned in such a way that no vehicles can drive unhindered into the area with a large crowd of people, as the police operations manager for the turn of the year, Stephan Katte, said with a view to the attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg.