Overview
- Munich’s new 800‑meter “Silvestermeile” is being built on Ludwigstraße for a ticketed night of music, laser and light shows in place of private fireworks, with sales still open and city‑center pyrotechnics prohibited.
- Berlin plans 4,300 police on duty, has conducted dozens of preventive warnings to past offenders and seized over 147,000 high‑risk fireworks, while fire services ready thousands of personnel and extra ambulances.
- North Rhine‑Westphalia cities including Düsseldorf, Cologne, Aachen and others have designated fireworks‑free zones, with Düsseldorf adding mobile video surveillance and intensified searches in identified hotspots.
- Bamberg introduces a central, professionally run display over the Regnitz to concentrate celebrations and cut injuries, fine dust and litter, launching from a THW‑anchored pontoon shortly after midnight.
- Research highlights hundreds of New Year injuries and thousands of eye cases over recent years, wildlife groups warn of severe animal stress as imports hit record levels, and insurers expect up to about 1,000 car fires.