Overview
- Berlin will field about 4,300 officers with enlarged pyrotechnics prohibition areas at Alexanderplatz, Sonnenallee, the Steinmetzkiez and the Admiralbrücke, relying on mobile checks and targeted controls.
- Investigators report roughly 147,000 seized fireworks items, including about 108,000 category F4 devices, with 49 investigations opened and 14 searches carried out.
- Authorities plan to use preventive custody of up to five days and will deploy about 3,000 bodycams to police and fire services to deter and document offenses.
- Legal consumer sales began December 29 under federal rules limiting use to December 31–January 1 and to F2 products, while federal border police continue to confiscate higher‑risk imports.
- Cities are tightening local rules—Lauingen banned fireworks in its Old Town on December 31 and January 1 with fines up to €50,000—while recent polling shows a majority supports curbs on private fireworks.