At least 5 people died and hundreds were arrested during New Year’s Eve celebrations in 🇩🇪 Germany, which were marred by riots in several cities, according to media reports on Wednesday.
The fatalities occurred as five men lost their lives handling pyrotechnics. Several others sustained injuries, some of which were life-threatening.
In Berlin, police reported arresting 390 people. A preliminary assessment indicated that at least 13 police officers were injured, including one seriously. Emergency responders and police officers were attacked with firecrackers and New Year’s rockets.
Despite the incidents, a police spokesperson stated that there was no major violence in the capital.
Meanwhile, in Leipzig, reports emerged of attacks on police officers, with around 50 individuals assaulting forces using fireworks and bottles. Barricades were erected, and garbage was set on fire.
In Munich, riots involving several hundred people were reported. According to police, an estimated 200 to 300 individuals, mainly linked to the leftist political scene, attacked officers.
At least 10 people were killed and as many as 35 injured after a truck drove into a large crowd on Bourbon Street in 🇺🇸 New Orleans' French Quarter early on Wednesday during a New Year's celebration, according to the FBI and city leaders.
The pick-up truck crashed into the crowd at high speed around 3:15 a.m. and within moments the driver started firing on police officers from inside the vehicle, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said at an early morning news conference. Two officers were shot and are now being treated in stable condition.
CNN and ABC News, citing unnamed officials, said the gunman was killed at the scene.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell told reporters that the driver was on a mission to kill as many people as possible. "He was hell bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did . . . This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. It was not a DUI situation," Cantrell said. Two police officers were shot but are in stable condition.
Hundreds of police officers were in the city for New Year's Eve duty when the assault happened, Cantrell said. The driver of the truck swerved around barricades on his way into the crowd, she said.
“Last night, we had over 300 officers out here, and because of the intentional mindset of this perpetrator who went around our barricades in order to conduct this," the mayor said.
The FBI has taken over the investigation. Alethea Duncan, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's New Orleans office, said later in the press conference that the incident is not being considered a terrorist attack.
“This is not a terrorist event,” Duncan said, adding that “an improvised explosive device was found” and the FBI is working to determine whether “it’s a viable device or not.”
