19.09.2020
10:06
15.056
New Year’s Eve in times of Corona: is the firecracker ban coming?
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Berlin – Firecrackers and rockets are a part of the New Year for many, others find them only loud and dangerous. There are local firework bans in some cities. The Corona-Pandemie but is hardly the reason for this.
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Will there be fireworks in major German cities despite the corona pandemic? © Paul Zinken / dpa
A few months before the turn of the year, many German cities are still planning the New Year’s Eve celebrations.
The focus is on possible fireworks bans. In most cities it is still unclear whether there will be separate rules due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A survey by the German Press Agency of 16 large cities in the Federal Republic of Germany showed that most of them have not yet decided on the possible schedule for the night on New Year’s Day.
With a view to the Covid 19 pandemic, most cities referred to the corona rules enacted by the countries. For this reason, most of them do not yet have concrete Corona New Year’s Eve plans.
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Firecracker ban on New Year’s Eve?
There should be a ban on firecrackers around the Brandenburg Gate. © Christophe Gateau / dpa
The firecrackers are basically regulated at the federal level: The First Ordinance on the Explosives Act (1. SprengV) regulates where celebrants are allowed to burn down their rockets and New Year’s Eve firecrackers.
“The burning of pyrotechnic objects in the immediate vicinity of churches, hospitals, children’s and old people’s homes as well as particularly fire-sensitive buildings or systems is prohibited”, it says in paragraph 23.
The cities Erfurt, Essen, Leipzig, Mainz, Potsdam and Dresden do not want to impose a ban on fireworks and firecrackers that goes beyond the provisions of this law.
In Berlin, according to the Senate Department for Internal Affairs, the city wants to identify prohibited zones around the Brandenburg Gate and also in two other parts of the city.
“If firecrackers and rockets are aimed at people who work for our protection and our health, then that is clearly going too far and must and can no longer be accepted,” said the Senate Administration.
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Protection of people comes first
The police are always on high alert on New Year’s Eve. © Andreas Arnold / dpa
Also Hannover The city announced that a ban on carrying and burning fireworks would be issued “with a probability bordering on certainty” in certain areas of the city center. In Karlsruhe, particular attention should be paid to compliance with Paragraph 23 of the 1st SprengV at Schlossplatz.
Alone in Rostock there are already concrete considerations to impose a fireworks and firework ban due to the corona pandemic, for example on the beach in Warnemünde.
In Hamburg, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Wiesbaden and Munich, authorities have not yet finally clarified whether there will be prohibited zones.
According to its own statements, the Bavarian capital drew a positive conclusion from the past year.
At that time, it forbade fireworks around Marienplatz, for example, because people often celebrated the New Year crowded there. Also in Cologne such a ban applied around Cologne Cathedral.
According to the city, this was also due to the events on New Year’s Eve 2015, when many people were shot at with fireworks.
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The pyrotechnical industry is critical of fireworks bans
Light installations and laser shows could be alternatives to traditional fireworks. © Xinhua
The Association of the Pyrotechnic Industry (VPI) is critical of the fireworks bans. This does not make sense in the city centers and punishes the wrong people, criticizes the VPI. In addition, the industry representatives fear that this will have an enormous economic impact, including company closures.
Last year, according to the association, sales of New Year’s Eve fireworks were 122 million euros.
That was around eight percent more than in 2018.
The German Environmental Aid (DUH), on the other hand, calls on cities to switch to alternatives to fireworks, such as light installations with drones.
On New Year’s Eve, the air will be polluted with 4200 tons of fine dust, said DUH Federal Managing Director Jürgen Resch.
Added to this is the burden of waste and new chemical mixtures every year that explode in the air to produce colors.
“What goes up in the air is extremely harmful to health and in the middle of the city, where hundreds of thousands of people breathe it,” warned Resch.
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London cancels mega fireworks on the Thames
In other countries, Corona sometimes has a major impact on New Year’s planning. In London, the huge fireworks display on the Thames was canceled. Such gatherings of people are no longer possible because of the pandemic, said the mayor of the British capital, Sadiq Khan.
Last year alone, more than 100,000 people watched the gigantic spectacle on the London Eye ferris wheel. Now they are working on a version that people could watch on TV.
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Cover photo: Paul Zinken / dpa
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