What began as a debate over a fireworks ban has quickly become one on the state of racism in Germany.

German politicians have spent the last few days condemning attacks against Berlin emergency service workers in particular, which saw 145 New Year’s Eve revellers arrested for everything from firing flare guns at police cars, to throwing bottles at paramedics and firefighters.

While that has some politicians and calling for a ban on people buying or shooting off fireworks on New Year’s Eve, some conservatives are being criticised for suggesting that migrant groups are responsible.

READ ALSO: Germany debates fireworks ban after New Year’s Eve chaos

I see the fireworks debate in Germany is moving in a totally expected direction. pic.twitter.com/yYuSYpVK3S

— Nic Houghton (@40PercentGerman) January 3, 2023

READ ALSO: Germany’s NYE celebrations marred by death, injuries and attacks

On Monday, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) MP Christoph de Vries tweeted one of the first such comments, saying: “If we want to fight against riots in our big cities and violence against the policy and fire crews, we have to talk about the role of people, phenotype: west Asians, darker skin type. To put it correctly.”

Wenn wir Krawalle in unseren Großstädten, Verachtung gegenüber dem Staat und Übergriffe gegen #Polizisten und #Feuerwehrleute wirklich bekämpfen wollen, müssen wir auch über die Rolle von Personen, Phänotypus: westasiatisch, dunklerer Hauttyp sprechen. Um es korrekt zu sagen.

— Christoph de Vries (@VriesChristoph) January 2, 2023

However what started as a viral tweet by one MP didn’t end there. Influential CDU MP and former Health Minister Jens Spahn told T-Online he was against a nationwide ban on fireworks because NYE violence tended to be clustered in neighbourhoods with high populations of people from migration backgrounds.

“It’s more about unregulated migration, failed integration and a lack of respect for the state instead of fireworks,” Spahn said.

German Police Society Head Rainer Wendt appeared to agree with Spahn. “Many emergency service personnel agree that groups of young men with a migration background are overrepresented in these riots,” he told Focus Magazine.  

Conservative newspaper BILD accused German politicians of “smearing the truth away” in migration.

CDU accused of trying to score political points

German progressive politicians hit back at the framing.

“The fact that colleagues from the CDU are using these incidents to instigate a racist discourse is probably due to the election campaign in Berlin and isn’t suitable for finding answers to these challenges,” Berlin Green MP Canan Bayram told Buzzfeed DE.

Berlin-Neukölln MP Hakan Demir called the debate “not good, but unfortunately typical,” accusing conservatives of using NYE as a chance to blame Germany’s ills on people with migration backgrounds.

He tweeted: “They are our young people. They were born here. So they are German young people. We can talk about higher penalties and a ban on fireworks. But we also have to talk about better political education, poverty and prevention.”

2/2 Mal ehrlich: Es sind unsere Jugendlichen. Sie wurden hier geboren. Es sind also deutsche Jugendliche. Wir können über höhere Strafen sprechen und über Böllerverbote. Wir müssen aber auch über bessere (politische) Bildung, über Armut und über Prävention sprechen. #böllerverbot

— Hakan Demir (@HakanDemirNK) January 3, 2023