New Year's Eve in Wolfsburg: Zero tolerance for attacks on emergency services!

New Year's Eve in Wolfsburg: Zero tolerance for attacks on emergency services!

There was another big celebration in Wolfsburg on New Year's Eve 2025, but the security situation is becoming increasingly critical. Mayor Dennis Weilmann used the traditional reception of the Wolfsburg professional fire department to send a clear message: “Anyone who attacks or obstructs emergency services should better stay at home today.” His zero-tolerance strategy is intended to ensure that the violent riots that some other German cities recently experienced do not occur. Just last year, police officers in Berlin were attacked with fireworks, and a rocket led to an apartment fire, as the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

Wolfsburg has been confronted with several challenges in recent years. As of November 30, 2025, over 23,000 calls had been recorded in the city, including 15,566 emergency services calls and 1,179 fire brigade alarms. In April there was a spectacular vehicle fire on tracks, and in August an apartment fire was caused by the suspected intentional actions of a tenant. These incidents highlight the need for a responsive and well-resourced security architecture.

New Year's Eve and its consequences

New Year's Eve 2024 made waves not only in Wolfsburg, but throughout Germany. In Berlin, police and rescue workers were confronted with chaotic conditions; Hundreds of arrests and attacks on emergency services were recorded. As DPolG Berlin reports, the state chief Bodo Pfalzgraf called for a New Year's program that includes preventative measures such as preventive custody for those at risk and advocates for consistent prosecution of misuse of pyrotechnics.

The results of this New Year's Eve are shocking: several people lost their lives due to improper handling of fireworks, while numerous emergency services were attacked in Leipzig and Berlin. This makes it clear that the pressure on the security forces is enormous, especially when citizens and emergency services get into a conflict, which results in physical attacks in many cities such as Berlin, Kaiserlautern and Kiel.

The goal for 2025

With these frightening signs, Sebastian Conrad, deputy head of the fire and disaster control division in Wolfsburg, would like the emergency services to return safely from their operations. Positive cooperation between full-time and volunteer employees is of central importance in order to meet the challenges in the coming year.

The hope is that the incidents of the past will not be repeated and that the New Year's Eve celebrations in 2025 will be a peaceful event for all citizens. As in other cities, so too in Wolfsburg: the appeal to the community to ensure respectful coexistence is becoming increasingly important.