Overview
- Legal sales opened on December 29, and retailers report higher demand than last year with early queues forming at discounters.
- Berlin will field about 4,300 officers, enlarge pyrotechnics prohibition areas and run mobile checks, with 3,000 bodycams deployed for the first time across police and fire units.
- Police report roughly 147,000 illegal fireworks seized ahead of the holiday, and federal officers intercepted additional F3 devices at the Polish border.
- Municipalities tightened rules and enforcement, from Bremen’s bans and video surveillance to Kassel’s AI checks on labeling and broader no‑pyro zones in historic centers.
- Hospitals and animal experts urged caution over severe injuries and pet distress, advising certified F2 products only and rejecting alcohol as a calming measure for dogs.