Overview
- Authorities in Berlin field about 4,300 police officers and more than 2,000 firefighters for the night, with the fire service using bodycams broadly for the first time to document assaults.
- Police report roughly 147,000 illegal or professional-grade fireworks seized ahead of the night, including F4 items and a 6.5‑kilogram explosive cache, as the LKA issues dozens of warning talks and readies preventive custody in extreme cases.
- A 16-year-old in Leipzig lost the little finger and parts of the ring finger handling an unapproved böller, and a Bochum apartment explosion prompted evacuation as police probe a suspected illegal pyrotechnics workshop and examine a possible link to a 70-year-old’s death.
- Cities expand local restrictions: Berlin widens verbotszonen including Alexanderplatz and hotspots in Kreuzberg, Neukölln and Schöneberg, while Munich adds a new no-fireworks zone around the Hellabrunn zoo alongside existing inner-city limits.
- Rules and public mood shape the night: consumer fireworks are generally allowed from 18:00 to 07:00, only 22% plan to light their own according to a TÜV survey, and doctors, police, child and animal groups renew calls for tighter or nationwide bans with advice on pet protection and low‑noise alternatives.