Stuttgart. On New Year’s Eve, around midnight in downtown Stuttgart, clashes broke out between party-goers and the police. Shortly before the turn of the year, more and more people flocked to the central palace square, so this was temporarily cordoned off, as the police announced in a preliminary balance sheet.
At the barriers, the people, especially young and aggressive men, had pushed in the direction of the officials, some had thrown firecrackers at police officers. The police said they used batons and pepper spray against the crowd. One police officer suffered a bang and two other officers were slightly injured in physical attacks. It was not initially announced whether there were also injuries among the partygoers. After 1 a.m. it had become much quieter in the city center.
The situation comes to a head at midnight
Several hundred police and city officials were on duty from afternoon to night to enforce the corona protective measures and to prevent “alcohol-related group violence in the city center,” as the police report said. Around 5 p.m., around 150 people had already gathered on Schlossplatz. When the police made them aware of the ban on gathering there, they withdrew in smaller groups. In the course of the evening, those addressed mostly followed the instructions of the police. Around midnight, however, the situation worsened.
In the rest of the country’s southwest, however, according to the police, the turn of the year was largely calm and decent. There were initially no major missions, said a spokesman on Saturday morning.
