Overview
- German Medical Association president Klaus Reinhardt urged federal and state interior ministers to prohibit private fireworks, citing severe injuries, trauma in children and full emergency departments.
- Deutsche Umwelthilfe renewed calls for a nationwide ban, pointing to about 42,400 tonnes of imports in the first nine months of 2025 and saying an online petition to Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has surpassed 800,000 signatures.
- The pyrotechnics association bvpk rejected blanket bans, arguing most serious accidents stem from illegal devices and pressing for tougher enforcement, while citing research that pandemic-era firework bans did not ease emergency room loads.
- Major cities expanded restrictions: Frankfurt barred fireworks and even carrying them on hotspots like the Eiserner Steg and the Zeil, Wiesbaden set a no-fireworks zone around the Kurhaus with controlled access, and other metros including Berlin, Munich and Hamburg outlined wider bans at central sites.
- Police plan large-scale operations, with several hundred officers in Frankfurt backed by the Hessian deployment command, as federal rules under the Explosives Act limit sales to Dec. 29–31 and allow use only from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1 with heavy penalties for illegal or off-limit use.