As knife crime increasingly permeates daily life in Germany, public anxiety over how to respond to potential attacks has reached a fever pitch. In a recent misstep, Berlin police suggested that victims could "sing loudly" to distract attackers, only to retract this advice after it was widely mocked online. With knife assaults in the city soaring to over 10 incidents per day, and with the backdrop of a brutal murder linked to gang violence, the urgency for effective self-defense strategies has never been greater, highlighting the disconnect between police guidance and the stark reality faced by citizens.
As knife crime becomes more of an “everyday” part of life in Germany, more and more people are concerned about how they should respond if they are attacked or threatened with a knife. The Berlin police’s tip to “sing loudly” has now been dropped from their website after being widely mocked on X.
“A screenshot of our homepage has been circulating for a few days, according to which we recommend that in the event of an attack, you irritate the perpetrator through unexpected behavior, such as singing,” write Berlin’s police. However, they then go on to write that they have removed this advice from their website.
“This is recommended by the professional associations for psychiatry, among others. However, this advice does not correspond to our police experience and has therefore no longer been part of our recommendations since 2023. The flyer was already updated, now our website is too.”
However, the “tip” also sparked broad coverage in the German media, with Berliner Zeitung writing in response to the advice, “What sounds like a bad joke is actually meant seriously. The police give Berliners tips on how to deal with violent situations on their website and write that ‘statistically speaking, many will never get into” such a situation. On the other hand, 48,200 physical assaults were recorded last year, the highest number in 10 years, which reduces many people’s sense of security.”
Some users on X questioned why the advice was not taken down earlier, considering the police already knew since 2023 that this tip did not work.
Nevertheless, there is increasing interest from the public about how to respond to knife attacks in the wake of data showing that there are now 10 knife attacks in Berlin per day. Just last week, a mother of four was brutally murdered outside her home by her ex-husband, a Lebanese national thought to have connections with the clan gang scene.
According to Berlin police, 3,482 knife attacks were recorded in the city last year. In 918 cases, people were seriously injured. Over half of the suspects, 53.5 percent, did not have a German passport. Only 25 percent of Berliners do not have German citizenship, showing the disproportionately high role of foreigners in such crimes. In addition, the data shows that 16 percent of the “German” suspects have a dual passport. Even those German suspects with only a German passport, many of them have a foreign background through their parents or grandparents.
A Berlin prosecutor, for example, stated that 75 percent of clan gang members actually have citizenship, which means every time they commit a crime, it is recorded as “German.”
In general, those facing a knife attack should remain as calm as possible, draw attention to the attacker, from others in the area, such as saying, “Careful, you have a knife there.” Most importantly, create distance between you and the attacker and look for potential escape routes
