https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Germany in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed German federal police will be allowed to shoot down drones, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Wednesday, following a recent string of sightings which Berlin has blamed on Russia. https://www.thelocal.de/20251008/german-police-to-get-power-to-shoot-down-drones Wed, 08 Oct 2025 14:26:44 +0200 german-police-to-get-power-to-shoot-down-drones A teacher has been injured in a stabbing at a vocational college in the western German city of Essen, police said Friday. https://www.thelocal.de/20250905/suspect-in-stabbing-at-college-in-german-city-of-essen-arrested Fri, 05 Sep 2025 13:47:34 +0200 suspect-in-stabbing-at-college-in-german-city-of-essen-arrested Phrases like ‘predictive policing’ are in the German press following an announcement that Baden-Württemberg will adopt a controversial surveillance software. So what is US firm Palantir offering and how will it change policing in Germany? https://www.thelocal.de/20250805/what-is-palantirs-gotham-software-and-why-do-german-police-want-it Tue, 05 Aug 2025 19:29:03 +0200 what-is-palantirs-gotham-software-and-why-do-german-police-want-it Officers of the law demand a degree of respect, but there are some things to know about speaking to police in German that may not be obvious to foreigners. Here are some things you can say (and some you should not). https://www.thelocal.de/20250725/what-to-know-about-talking-to-the-police-in-germany Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:00:46 +0200 what-to-know-about-talking-to-the-police-in-germany Berlin has introduced a weapons ban - including knives and batons - for all passengers of the city's trains, buses and trams. Here’s what you need to know. https://www.thelocal.de/20250717/messerverbot-berlin-introduces-knife-ban-on-public-transport Thu, 17 Jul 2025 14:07:47 +0200 messerverbot-berlin-introduces-knife-ban-on-public-transport Berlin police will be given extensive new rights and powers covering video surveillance and the monitoring of online communications. https://www.thelocal.de/20250623/explained-the-extensive-new-powers-to-be-given-to-berlin-police Mon, 23 Jun 2025 12:13:20 +0200 explained-the-extensive-new-powers-to-be-given-to-berlin-police Germany's Interior Minister has announced his intention to issue Tasers to federal police officers by the end of the year, in addition to the batons and firearms they already carry. https://www.thelocal.de/20250610/will-more-police-in-germany-be-equipped-with-tasers Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:27:24 +0200 will-more-police-in-germany-be-equipped-with-tasers Mass demonstrations were held in the German city of Oldenburg to criticise racism in the police force and demand a thorough investigation into the fatal shooting of a black man. https://www.thelocal.de/20250428/german-police-under-scrutiny-following-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man Mon, 28 Apr 2025 14:40:37 +0200 german-police-under-scrutiny-following-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man A German police officer on Sunday shot dead a man who threatened people with a knife outside a night club and advanced toward a patrol spraying a suspicious gas, police said. https://www.thelocal.de/20250421/man-shot-dead-by-german-police-in-night-club-incident Mon, 21 Apr 2025 09:52:46 +0200 man-shot-dead-by-german-police-in-night-club-incident German police have begun clearing a protest camp near Tesla's German factory near Berlin, where activists hoped to stop the expansion of the US carmaker's only European site. https://www.thelocal.de/20241120/german-police-move-to-clear-tesla-factory-protest-camp Wed, 20 Nov 2024 09:12:39 +0100 german-police-move-to-clear-tesla-factory-protest-camp Police on Tuesday arrested eight suspected members of a right-wing extremist group based in eastern Germany that had trained for what they expected would be the collapse of state order, prosecutors said. https://www.thelocal.de/20241105/german-police-arrest-eight-members-of-far-right-paramilitary-group Tue, 05 Nov 2024 12:11:18 +0100 german-police-arrest-eight-members-of-far-right-paramilitary-group German police were searching for a man on Thursday after he fled a police check at a busy Berlin railway station and left behind a bag containing explosives. https://www.thelocal.de/20241031/manhunt-after-explosives-left-at-berlins-neukolln-train-station Thu, 31 Oct 2024 15:34:33 +0100 manhunt-after-explosives-left-at-berlins-neukolln-train-station Germany's constitutional court ruled Tuesday that the federal police's powers of surveillance and data retention were too broad and ordered a change to the law. https://www.thelocal.de/20241002/germanys-top-court-orders-limits-to-police-surveillance-powers Wed, 02 Oct 2024 10:25:24 +0200 germanys-top-court-orders-limits-to-police-surveillance-powers A regional train struck a parked freight train in western Germany on Tuesday, resulting in 14 people becoming injured, three of them seriously. https://www.thelocal.de/20240924/14-injured-after-train-crash-in-north-rhine-westphalia Tue, 24 Sep 2024 13:29:04 +0200 14-injured-after-train-crash-in-north-rhine-westphalia Two people have died while several others who were trapped under the rubble for hours have been rescued after a hotel partially collapsed in the Moselle valley in western Germany. https://www.thelocal.de/20240808/two-dead-and-seven-rescued-after-hotel-collapse-in-germanys-moselle-valley Thu, 08 Aug 2024 10:47:28 +0200 two-dead-and-seven-rescued-after-hotel-collapse-in-germanys-moselle-valley Rescue workers have pulled people, including a young child, from the rubble after a hotel partially collapsed in a town in the west of Germany. https://www.thelocal.de/20240807/what-we-know-so-far-about-fatal-hotel-collapse-in-western-germany Wed, 07 Aug 2024 12:40:03 +0200 what-we-know-so-far-about-fatal-hotel-collapse-in-western-germany A Berlin court on Tuesday fined a woman €600 for using the phrase "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" at a protest, in a ruling slammed as a "dark day for freedom of expression" by her lawyer. https://www.thelocal.de/20240807/woman-fined-in-berlin-for-using-pro-palestinian-slogan Wed, 07 Aug 2024 11:31:12 +0200 woman-fined-in-berlin-for-using-pro-palestinian-slogan Several schools in the eastern German state of Thuringia had to close on the first day back after summer break due to bomb threats sent by email. https://www.thelocal.de/20240801/school-pupils-evacuated-after-bomb-threats-at-several-german-schools Thu, 01 Aug 2024 16:08:16 +0200 school-pupils-evacuated-after-bomb-threats-at-several-german-schools Cargo flight operations were suspended for several hours and there is some disruption to passenger traffic after climate activists launched a protest at Leipzig/Halle airport. https://www.thelocal.de/20240801/disruption-at-leipzig-halle-airport-after-climate-protest Thu, 01 Aug 2024 11:29:34 +0200 disruption-at-leipzig-halle-airport-after-climate-protest After a group of Irish protestors were told by Berlin police to stop singing songs in Gaelic while they held a pro-Palestine event, The Local looks at whether foreign language protests are really outlawed in Germany's capital. https://www.thelocal.de/20240424/fact-check-are-foreign-language-protests-really-forbidden-in-germany Wed, 24 Apr 2024 16:48:43 +0200 fact-check-are-foreign-language-protests-really-forbidden-in-germany