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Spent firecrackers after New Year's Eve
Photo: IMAGO/Rene Traut
The turn of the year in Germany was accompanied by numerous injuries and attacks on the police and fire brigade.
The extent, especially in Berlin, frightened many – and revived a debate about the ban on firecrackers that had been going on for years.
Berlin's Senator for Culture, Klaus Lederer, has now spoken out in favor of a Germany-wide ban on sales.
"That would have to be regulated by federal law," said the left-wing top candidate for the Berlin repeat election on Monday morning on RBB Inforadio.
However, he fears that the FDP will "push people's freedom to the fore" and thus block such an advance.
Lederer himself was clear about his position: "What's the point of all this nonsense with the firecrackers?
Nobody needs that.«
Lederer sees an expansion of the no-gun zones critically, because many emergency services are needed to enforce it.
After all, you can't multiply your staff on New Year's Eve, you have to work with what you have.
"I actually wish that we use our police officers for what they are there for, and not for cat-and-mouse games in the city," said Lederer.
»Pyrotechnics used very specifically as a weapon«
On New Year's Eve, the police and fire brigade had almost 4,000 operations together than on New Year's Eve before the pandemic.
In numerous cases, emergency services were attacked with firecrackers and rockets.
More than 30 police officers and firefighters were injured.
There were three no-gun zones throughout the city.
Lederer is not alone in the push.
The Berlin police union is also calling for a far-reaching ban on firecrackers to be taken seriously.
"We have seen across Germany that pyrotechnics are being used specifically as a weapon against people," criticized GdP country manager Stephan Weh.
This must come to an end.
Instead, politicians from the Union and FDP opposed a general ban on firecrackers.
"The attacks on the police, fire brigade and rescue workers on New Year's Eve are downright absurd and despicable," said the first parliamentary manager of the Union faction in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei (CDU), the "Rheinische Post".
However, the behavior of criminals should not mean “that the many peaceful revelers should also be subject to a general ban on fireworks”.
The municipalities already have the option of imposing a ban on fireworks in certain places and at certain times.
mrc/dpa