Two people have died from fireworks injuries amid New Year celebrations in Germany, but the country avoided a repeat of the mass groping in Cologne from 2016, amid heightened security and efforts to protect women from sexual harassment.
In the Brandenburg region outside Berlin, the DPA news agency reported Monday that a 35-year-old man died after igniting fireworks, and a 19-year-old suffered fatal head injuries after he set off a homemade device.
Police in Cologne reported seven cases of sexual harassment, while Berlin police reported 10 and seven arrests as several hundred thousand people celebrated at the city’s Brandenburg Gate.
Police sought to prevent a repeat of New Year 2016 in Cologne, when hundreds of women were groped and robbed, mostly by groups of migrants.