In the Bundestag, the government and opposition exchanged heated blows about the causes and consequences of the riots on New Year's Eve.

In Berlin alone there were 126 attacks on police officers and rescue workers. According to initial official statistics, the Berlin police have so far identified 44 suspected attackers.

There were a total of 145 arrests in the capital on New Year's Eve.

Helen Bubrowski

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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The Union faction had requested the current hour.

The deputy leader of the parliamentary group, Andrea Lindholz (CSU), sees the excesses of violence in Berlin as “the result of twenty years of SPD-led domestic politics”.

The SPD's balance sheet was "a single disaster, our capital deserves better".

Representatives of the coalition factions then accused the Union of exploiting New Year's Eve for election campaign purposes.

On February 12, the election to the Berlin House of Representatives is repeated because of irregularities at the time.

Alabali-Radovan: Don't judge offenders by their first names

The federal government's integration commissioner, Reem Alabali-Radovan (SPD), accused the Union of placing migrants under general suspicion.

Of the 44 alleged attackers on police and rescue workers in Berlin, 15 have German citizenship, ten have dual citizenship, and 19 are non-German.

The CDU faction in the Berlin House of Representatives suspected that many of the Germans have a migration background and asked for the suspects' first names.

Alabali-Radovan demanded: “We must judge the perpetrators by their actions, not by their first names.

These are our young people, you can't simply dismiss this violence." Integration is a "social question, not a question of geographical origin".

Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) condemned the attacks on emergency services as "unbearable".

She believes that objectifying the debate is just as important as swift punishment.

For this purpose, the Federal Ministry of the Interior will create a situation report.

Marco Buschmann, the Federal Minister of Justice from the FDP, joined this call for a factual review, but warned against stirring up resentment.

After all, Marco is also an Italian first name, but he has no Italian ancestors.

“When people dance on the nose of the rule of law, the rule of law has to show its teeth.

The rule of law has that too," said Buschmann, pointing out that crimes such as property damage and bodily harm can lead to several years in prison.

Faeser now wants to increase the sentence

The FDP rejects the demand by Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) for tightening of criminal law, the Union campaigned for it in the debate on Wednesday.

Faeser wants to increase the sentence if emergency services are lured into an ambush.

Immediately after New Year's Eve, she saw no need for action, referring to the tightening of the law in 2017.

Now it is said from your house that in view of the increasingly brutal violence against police and rescue workers, a clear legal policy signal is required.

According to their ideas, there should be a minimum sentence of one year in the future if emergency services are ambushed and then attacked - for example by simulating an accident.