CHAOS on New Year's Eve led to five people being killed by fireworks and 400 arrested in explosive riots. Germany was plunged into a nightmare when it should have been celebrating - as law officials fell victim to violent rampages. The terrifying footage shows hundreds of police officers standing guard to try and prevent more violence from unfolding.
![[The rioters let off fireworks during their protests on New Year's Eve]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/epa11800398-fireworks-illuminate-sky-behind-960793971.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Windows are smashed in the clips and explosions ring out through the streets. Rioters can be seen crowding the streets, setting off fireworks and running rampant through the roads. Among the five dead was a 24-year-old man, who was killed by a homemade firework that is believed to have gone off prematurely near Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia.
![[Hundreds of police officers were drafted into Berlin to prevent the outbreak of more violence]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/police-officers-stand-guard-fireworks-960798709.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Police believe he had constructed the pyrotechnic rocket himself. In Berlin, 30 police officers and one firefighter were injured in confrontations or attacks in a series of disasters that spread across the country. In Cologne, police said that two officers were injured after fireworks had been shot at emergency service workers, while Leipzig saw 50 people attack firefighters and cops.
![[Buildings were set ablaze during the distressing ordeal, as firefighters struggled to contain them]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/firefighters-rest-amidst-working-extinguish-960805739.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said: "The deployment of strong police forces from the federal states and the federal police and an early and consistent crackdown are the right means against perpetrators of violence and chaos. "However, the many arrests in Berlin alone and the renewed attacks on police officers also show that this crackdown was absolutely necessary.".
![[The riots have been strongly condemned by the German government]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/police-officers-stand-guard-fireworks-960798712.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
