'Messerverbot': Berlin introduces knife ban on public transport

Local Germany

17-07-2025

Starting Thursday, members of the public are no longer permitted to carry weapons on public transport in Berlin, including all S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains, buses and trams.
This comes as a new ordinance passed by the Berlin Senate in an effort to curb violent crime and increase safety.
The measures introduce broad new restrictions for public transport passengers in the capital, as well as significantly increasing the powers of the police.
Their introduction has also sparked debate in the city about whether the new rules are necessary, how they can be enforced, and whether the police can be trusted to employ them responsibly.
What's banned?
The new restrictions are comprehensive: folding knives, switchblades, and other blades are explicitly banned, along with alarm guns, irritant weapons, other cutting and stabbing weapons, electric shock devices like tasers, batons and crossbows. Even people who possess a permit for small weapons are subject to the ban.
But pepper spray, often carried by women for self-defence, is exempt.
Police officers and firefighters are of course excluded from the ban. Also certain groups of people may still be allowed to carry knives with them, such as chefs, delivery drivers, other professionals who need knives for their work, and anyone transporting a knife that is still in its packaging.
The ban does not extend to bus and tram stops. Nor does it extend to knives which people are carrying somewhere they can't easily access.
The rule appears to be that if a knife is in a backpack, and requires at least three separate steps to reach, the carrier is not in violation of the new ordinance.
What happens if you're caught with a knife?
Despite a relatively muted roll-out – not extending further than brochures handed out in transit areas – the penalties for violation can be severe. Reportedly, fines as steep as €10,000 could be given to offenders in serious cases.
Information on the official Berlin
website
suggests repeat offenders could also lose their driver's license. It adds that there will be "no special signs" to announce the ban.
Advertisement
What new powers have the police been given?
To help them enforce the ban, the new ordinance grants Berlin police and federal transport police the right to conduct random stop-and-search checks.
Within the designated areas, officers can now stop and search any passenger, regardless of their appearance or behaviour, and confiscate any prohibited items they find.
This represents a marked shift from previous rules, which only allowed searches based on specific grounds for suspicion.
READ ALSO:
What are the rules around carrying a knife in Germany?
A memorial decorated with flowers and candles in Sophie-Charlotte-Platz underground station after man was killed there in April. Photo: picture alliance/dpa / Hannes P Albert
Why ban knives?
The crackdown follows a surge in
knife-related violent crimes
in Berlin and across Germany, including a
lethal knife attack
on the U-Bahn in April.
Berlin police recorded 3,412 knife attacks in the city in 2024, an average of nearly ten per day, and more than half occurring in public spaces.
READ ALSO:
Far-right attacks on migrants doubled in Berlin last year
What are people saying?
The reaction the the announcement of the weapons ban has been mixed.
The regulation was agreed upon by the CDU and SPD in the Berlin Senate, and is seen as a centrepiece of the city's evolving strategy on public safety.
Advertisement
It follows the introduction of similar knife bans in Hesse and Hamburg. According to reporting by the DPA, other states including Baden-Württemberg are likely to follow suit soon.
The police appear less enthusiastic than politicians, however. Benjamin Jendro, spokesperson for the GdP police union, described the new law as 'a very piecemeal approach, which suggests a level of security that can't be guaranteed.'
According to media reports, Jendro argues that the new measures will tie up valuable police resources without necessarily having the desired deterrent effect.
Responses from the German press and civil society organisations, on the other hand, have focused more closely on the implications of giving police in Berlin the power to carry out searches without grounds for suspicion.
A report by
TAZ
, for example, raised concerns about the encroachment on basic rights, the risk of racial profiling, and the effectiveness of the ban as a crime-fighting tool.
Berlin's state parliament is currently considering further reforms to the city's General Security and Public Order Act (ASOG), which would grant police greatly expanded surveillance powers and broader access to encrypted communications media such as WhatsApp.
READ ALSO:
The extensive new powers to be given to Berlin police
These reforms are controversial and being debated in parliament, with some opposition politicians warning against excessive surveillance and further erosion of civil freedoms.