Overview
- German Medical Association president Klaus Reinhardt urges a nationwide ban on private fireworks, citing severe injuries, crowded emergency rooms, trauma among war refugees, attacks on responders, and environmental harm.
- The pyrotechnics association (bvpk) rejects a blanket prohibition, arguing serious injuries stem from illegal devices, legal consumer products are tightly tested and limited, and New Year ER strain is driven largely by alcohol use, referencing a Magdeburg study.
- Deutsche Umwelthilfe reports imports of 42,400 tonnes of fireworks in the first nine months and presses for a federal ban, calling on Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt as more than 800,000 people back an open letter.
- Frankfurt bans fireworks on the Eiserner Steg and the Zeil during specified hours with bag limits on the bridge, while Wiesbaden sets a checked security zone around the Bowling Green that prohibits fireworks and large bags and features a drone show.
- Police plan major deployments for New Year's Eve, including several hundred officers in Frankfurt supported by the Hessian operations command, as Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder voices opposition to a blanket ban on tradition grounds.