Police recorded 1,500 criminal offenses on New Year's Eve, launching investigations into 670 individuals
Police in Berlin have launched an internal investigation into the leak of a list containing the names of suspects detained during New Year's Eve violence, a police spokesperson confirmed Thursday.
Florian Nath, speaking to broadcaster RBB, said the investigation was initiated after the list of those temporarily detained was published by the far-right portal Nius. Nath emphasized that publishing personal data without legal justification breaches data protection laws and could lead to discrimination.
“It appears personal data of New Year's Eve suspects, including their first names, was handed over by the police to the far-right portal Nius,” Niklas Schrader, a member of Berlin's State Parliament from the Left Party, said on X.
“This would be a real scandal, and we will address this in the Interior Committee,” Schrader added.
Berlin police reported 1,500 criminal offenses during the New Year's Eve celebrations and have launched investigations into 670 individuals. Of these, 264 were foreign nationals, while 406 were German citizens.
The leaked list revealed that many of the German suspects had migrant backgrounds, sparking concerns over potential misuse of the data and discriminatory narratives.
