German Tradition of Throwing Fireworks Around Used as Evidence of Immigrant Attacks

From Infowars:

Shocking video taken in Berlin on New Years Eve shows migrants shooting guns and hurling fireworks in scenes that resemble something out of a war zone.

Or “scenes that resemble what goes on every year in Berlin on New Years Eve”. Compare the video being promoted by Infowars with a video of New Years Eve in Berlin at the end of 2012 (sic; it was uploaded at the start of 2013) – including the supposed guns.

It is easy to find other examples on YouTube of past New Year’s Eve events in Germany that show similar revelries. I was in Germany for New Year’s Eve at the end 1993, and having been raised on terrifying 1970s public safety films about the dangers of fireworks I was somewhat alarmed at the way bangers in particular were being thrown around.

The BBC has details of a woman in Cologne who was injured by a firecracker that was placed in her hood while her phone was stolen, and it also reports that a British woman “said fireworks had been thrown at her group by men who spoke neither German nor English”. It appears that some media are now extrapolating from this to using any footage of fireworks being set off in crowds as evidence of hostile behaviour by “immigrants”. Thus the Daily Mail has included a video headlined “Fireworks thrown into crowd outside train station in Cologne” in a story about the sexual assaults, when in fact what it shows is totally unexceptional (H/T @mcelderrytruth).

The point is not that the assaults in Cologne should be minimised; the point is that where there is a genuine concern, there will be misinformation, and there will also be those who wish to exploit public anger for their own opportunistic purposes.

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