Nearly half a million Germans have signed an online petition calling for a nationwide fireworks ban. With the petition, the Berlin branch of the police union GdP hopes to put an end to the sale of fireworks to private individuals.
The online petition has been around for two years, but according to a spokesperson for GdP, it had only about 90,000 signatures the day before New Year’s Eve. On Saturday morning, it had more than 480,000. “We can no longer ignore a national fireworks ban,” the union believes. “What we experienced last New Year’s Eve goes beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable.”
Around New Year’s Eve, five people in Germany were killed by fireworks. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview with the magazine Stern that he finds a fireworks ban “a bit strange”. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is also not in favor. She advocates “targeted measures”.
In Germany, like in the Netherlands, people are allowed to set off fireworks around New Year’s Eve. The mayor of Berlin also advocated earlier this week for stricter regulations on fireworks and a tougher approach to illegal fireworks.
In the Netherlands too, the discussion about a fireworks ban has flared up in recent days after two people died from fireworks. Dozens of minors were injured, including their hands, and dozens of people were treated in the Eye Hospital. But Prime Minister Dick Schoof says he is not in favor of such a ban.
