After Corona: First New Year's Eve without restrictions in Bavaria - but with no firecracker zones

Created: 2022-11-13 09:59

By: Thomas Eldersch

This year there will probably be fireworks to buy again on New Year's Eve.

You can use it in many Bavarian cities but not everywhere.

Munich – For the past two years, the order of the day was not to get too close.

This was especially true at Christmas and New Year's Eve.

The reason: Corona.

Now the pandemic is about to become endemic and new contact restrictions are not in sight.

Bavaria even recently decided to lift the quarantine requirement for those who tested positive.

There will probably no longer be a ban on the sale of firecrackers, as in the past two years.

Is everything the same again on New Year's Eve?

Not quite.

Bavarian cities are setting up no-gun zones again

Environmental organizations and many pet owners have been calling for years to refrain from banging and shooting off fireworks at the turn of the year.

Even the majority of Germans are in favor of abolition.

According to the Federal Environment Agency, the burning of those fireworks produces around 2050 tons of fine dust every year.

This amount corresponds to about one percent of the total amount of fine dust released in Germany.

And the usually very loud firecrackers are a real torture for dogs and cats, whose hearing is finer than that of humans.

But banning firecrackers and rocket launches is not that easy.

Individual cities are quite willing to ban fireworks.

In order to be able to enforce this across the board, a nationwide change in the law would be needed.

So they can only ban lighting in certain places.

For example, Munich wants to ban firecrackers on the Mittlerer Ring again.

In Nuremberg, the previous ban zones in the area around the main market and the Kaiserburg will also remain in place, according to the city "for the safety of the crowds of people there and of legally protected buildings".

(By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you about all the important stories from Bavaria. Register here.)

In Regensburg and Augsburg people are worried about the historic buildings

In Regensburg there should be a ban on firecrackers in the old town on New Year's Eve.

A spokeswoman for the city explained that the aim was to protect monuments such as the cathedral and sensitive facilities such as old people's homes, but also to counteract the "danger of explosives in crowds in the narrow old town".

In Augsburg, too, fireworks should not be fired in the immediate vicinity of so-called protected objects, the regulatory department said.

These include churches, hospitals, children's and old people's homes as well as particularly fire-sensitive buildings.

In addition, there has been a general ban on fireworks and pyrotechnics in crowds in public areas on special occasions such as sporting events or New Year's Eve in Augsburg since 2017.