Top Berlin officials visit firefighters in wake of new year's riots

At least 20 barricades were deliberately erected and emergency services attacked during the New Year's Eve riots in Berlin, the city's fire brigade said on Friday, reported dpa.

Even veteran firefighters reported a level of aggression and violence they had never experienced before, fire brigade spokesman Thomas Kirstein said.

"We have had to experience a whole new intensity of attacks," he said. The emergency forces were lured into ambushes and members of the volunteer fire brigade were also affected, Kirstein said, adding that 15 members of the firefighting force were injured.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey as well as Interior Senator Iris Spranger visited the fire station in the hard-hit district of Neukölln on Friday and spoke with affected emergency personnel.

During the visit, Faeser said she wants to tighten gun laws so that a permit for the purchase of alarm guns is necessary.

These had played a major role on New Year's Eve, but were "not a harmless instrument," Faeser said. "It is a weapon. One needs a permit for it."

Giffey said a rethink in the judiciary is needed. It is important that crimes are punished quickly and consistently, especially in the case of young multiple offenders, Giffey said during the fire station visit.

The question, she said, is: "How committed are we to ensuring that punishment follows on its heels. That young offenders still know what they are being sentenced for."

On New Year's Eve, police officers and firefighters in several German cities were targeted in attacks involving fireworks and rockets. The attacks were particularly severe in some districts of Berlin, leaving 41 police officers injured.