More than a million people have connected with one petition for a nationwide ban on firecrackers pronounced. The #böllerciao alliance, initiated by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), handed over the petition with 1,035,809 signatures as well as an open letter to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, as Deutsche Umwelthilfe announced. The letter calls, among other things, for an immediate change to the Explosives Ordinance by Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) in order to achieve a nationwide ban on the sale and use of private pyrotechnics on New Year’s Eve.
DUH Federal Managing Director Jürgen Resch said: “After the events and the many dead and injured people on this New Year’s Eve, Minister Dobrindt is facing his personal debacle. He would have had it in his hands to avoid many of the deaths and the countless injured people and destroyed apartments and houses.”
The federal and state governments could not agree on a ban on firecrackers
Another petition from the police union (GdP) for a Firecracker ban was supported by 3.25 million people by midday on Monday, and a call launched later by the Campact network was supported by 439,000 people. In December, the federal and state interior ministers did not agree on a ban on firecrackers at a meeting in Bremen.
The Federal Association for Pyrotechnics and Artistic Fireworks (bvpk) once again spoke out against further restrictions on private New Year’s Eve fireworks. Managing director Christoph Kröpl said: “Anyone who punishes millions of peaceful revelers across the board is hitting the wrong people, divides society and distracts from what is really at stake: illegal fireworks, misused pyrotechnics, often under the influence of alcohol, and home-made laboratories.” He pointed out that these are criminal offenses. “There are laws for that, they must be consistently enforced,” said Kröpl.
At the turn of the year there were at least two people died from pyrotechnics and others were injured. In Berlin, the police temporarily arrested 430 people, the main reason being violations of explosives regulations.
