Breast of knife in Berlin: A determined step against violence!

Breast of knife in Berlin: A determined step against violence!

The situation in Berlin continues to escalate: In 2024, the knife attacks in the capital are alarming. According to the Berlin police, there was again a considerable number of attacks, injuries and threats with knives this year, which add up to around 3,482 crimes. Police President Barbara Slovik Meisel is quoted with the words: "The level is as high as 2023." This underlines the worrying tendency that affects many players from society. In addition to the victims, which are often non-German origin, the proportion of perpetrators who are under 21 are alarming-about 30 percent of the suspects fall into this age group, such as B.Z. reports .

knife bans in criminal focal points

In order to counteract this problem, the Berlin Senate decided to introduce a comprehensive ban on weapons in three particularly affected areas, including the Görlitzer Park and the Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg. From February 15, 2025, carrying knives and other weapons in these zones is strictly prohibited. The measure applies independently of the blade length and also affects kitchen knives and pocket knives. Only police and rescue workers as well as restaurant owners are excluded from this ban. This decision follows a significant increase in knife attacks and aims to sustainably improve the security in these focal points, such as Zeit Online reports .

The police have the authority to carry out controls at any time without specific suspicions. Violations of the ban can be punished with fines of up to 10,000 euros. The motives for these drastic measures include the high number of injuries and the fatal incidents caused by a knife application. Meisel hopes for a noticeable improvement through the new regulations, but there is skepticism as to whether such prohibition zones can actually be a sustainable solution. However, the discussion about the effectiveness of these measures is far from over.