A quarter of Germans arrested for their participation in the Berlin riots on New Year’s Eve have dual nationality, according to information handed by the Berlin authorities to the Die Welt newspaper.
As this site already reported, 145 people were detained for their part in the mayhem which ensued throughout the German capital on New Year’s Eve, which footage circulated on social media showing torched vehicles and outbreaks of fires in apartment blocks.
Emergency service vehicles were attacked as they responded to 3,943 incidents across Berlin on Saturday night, resulting in the injury of at least 33 emergency responders.
Civil disorder was “particularly bad in the hotspot neighborhoods of Kreuzberg and Neukölln with a high proportion of migrants,” reported the Bild newspaper.
Of those 145 arrestees, 100 (69 percent) are reported by Berlin authorities to be of a migration background, i.e., they have either immigrated to Germany themselves or are descendants of immigrants.
However, the latest update provided by Berlin police revealed that of the remaining 45 people of German nationality detained, 11 have a second passport.
Three have Turkish nationality, two have Lebanese, and one each have Tunisian, Romanian, Jordanian, Iraqi, and French, an update from authorities cited by Die Welt showed. In the case of one person, the second nationality was unclear.
The latest figures revealed that 77 percent of those arrested were either migrants or those holding dual nationality.
Of the initial 100 people arrested without a German passport, the largest contingents included Afghans (27) and Syrians (21).
Progressive politicians, including Berlin’s Green MP Canan Bayram, sought to downplay the high level of involvement from migrant communities, instead seeking to discredit conservatives who highlighted the issue and accusing them of attempting to “instigate a racist discourse.”
However, the demographic report by the city’s authorities justified those who called for a discussion on the disproportionate involvement of migrants in the riots.
For example, Jens Spahn, the deputy leader of the CDU parliamentary group, claimed the failure to integrate a large influx of immigrants into Germany in recent years was to blame for the riots.
“It’s more about unregulated migration, failed integration, and a lack of respect for the state instead of fireworks,” said Spahn, who called attacks on emergency responders “unspeakable.”