‘I just wanted to celebrate’: Palestinian influencer arrested for shooting firework into Berlin apartment

A Palestinian influencer has been arrested after shooting a firework into a Berlin apartment window, sparking fury in Germany.

A Palestinian social media influencer has been arrested after he launched a firework through an apartment window in Berlin on New Year’s Eve, sparking widespread outrage after the clip went viral in Germany.

Atallah Younes, 23, was detained at Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport on Saturday by heavily armed police while waiting to board a flight to Amman, Jordan, as he spoke to a reporter from Bild who was grilling him about the incident.

Palestinian social media influencer Atallah Younes. Picture: X

“I just wanted to celebrate,” Younes told the newspaper. “I didn’t know it was so dangerous. I went to sleep and the next day I saw that the video had 10 million views.”

Younes, from Nablus in the West Bank, was arrested on suspicion of attempted arson and attempted bodily harm and could face prison if convicted.

Video shows Younes launching a firework into a Berlin apartment. Picture: X

In the clip originally posted to his social media, which he later deleted, Younes was seen lighting a firework and firing it at an apartment building in the suburb of Berlin-Neukölln.

The rocket flies through a third-floor window before exploding as the room catches fire.

German media reported that the room was a child’s bedroom, but that no one was inside at the time and the fire was quickly extinguished with no injuries.

Younes was arrested trying to leave Germany on Saturday. Picture: X

Police and prosecutors said the 33-year-old apartment owner’s furniture was damaged.

Younes posted a follow-up video of himself going to the apartment to apologise to the tenants, saying it was “a mistake”.

After the incident drew condemnation in German media, Younes claimed he was being treated unfairly and said he was a victim of racism.

“What do the police want from me? Do they think I’m a refugee?” he told Zeit.

Hundreds of people have been arrested across Germany over the past week after police and firefighters were attacked and injured by fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

AfD co-chair Alice Weidel denounced ‘migrant violence’. Picture: Craig Stennett/Getty Images

Five people were killed and hundreds were injured after being hit by fireworks, while explosions of illegal fireworks caused extensive damage in two Berlin neighbourhoods and rendered 36 apartments uninhabitable, German news agency DPA reported.

The chaos has led to widespread calls to ban fireworks in Germany.

“This massive violence against our colleagues must stop,” the national police union GdP’s Berlin chapter said in a petition handed over to the interior ministry on Monday.

The petition, which had gathered over 1.4 million signatures, called for a ban “so that we don’t have to talk about dozens of injuries again next year”.

Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, had reposted Younes’ video on X, denouncing “migrant violence” in Germany.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had last week called for tougher penalties for people who misuse fireworks.

“Hooligans and violent criminals who attack emergency services and endanger people’s health with highly dangerous explosives will only respond to a tough line,” she told Bild, calling for up to five years’ jail for offenders.

However, the government for now appears in no mood to completely outlaw Germany’s love affair with fireworks.

A spokesman for Ms Faeser on Monday said the problems were limited to big cities and that there was “no majority in favour of a general ban” in the German parliament.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who faces elections on February 23, in an interview with Stern magazine also said that he found the idea of a nationwide fireworks ban “somewhat strange”.

— with AFP