After the New Year’s Eve riots, Neukölln’s district mayor, Martin Hikel (SPD), warned against categorically declaring people with a migration background in the Berlin district to be perpetrators. In parts of Neukölln, up to 90 percent of the people have a history of migration, said Hikel on Wednesday evening in the ARD “Tagesthemen”. “A large proportion of the people live peacefully here, and a large proportion are also among those who have been victims of this violence,” he said.
Instead, it is crucial to quickly bring the identified perpetrators to justice and convict them, emphasized Hikel. Given the crimes committed, prison sentences of up to five years are possible. The district mayor had previously spoken out in favor of a ban on the sale of fireworks.
Parts of the Neukölln district were one of the focal points of the incidents on New Year’s Eve. Riots broke out in several cities, during which police and firefighters were also attacked. 145 people were provisionally arrested in Berlin, most of them men. According to the police, 18 different nationalities were recorded: 45 of the suspects had German nationality, followed by 27 suspects with Afghan nationality and 21 Syrians.
