Why the firecracker ban in Germany must finally come now

The new year began for the leader of the Green Youth with a gesture of humility that was untypical for the organization. “No one should be hurt on New Year’s Eve,” wrote Jette Nietzard on the social network X. “I apologize for my tweet. I shouldn’t have phrased it like that.”

Indeed. On New Year’s Eve she posted this sentence: “Men who lose their hand while shooting firecrackers can at least no longer hit women.”

A cynical statement, without question. The apology was necessary.

What is true about the polemic is that it is almost exclusively men who injure themselves with pyrotechnics – or injure others with it.

The Berlin Accident Hospital recently evaluated data from almost two decades. According to this, the people who were seriously injured by fireworks were men.

The five people who died on New Year’s Eve were also male. And the accidents can only be partially explained by youthful daring. Their respective ages: 20, 21, 24, 45 and 50.

It is enough! The ban on firecrackers, which has been debated unsuccessfully for years, is overdue. Because it’s not just the dead. The pyrotechnic effects of German New Year’s Eve have a devastating effect in other ways too.

Thousands upon thousands of people suffer burns and hearing damage every year. ENT doctors speak of up to 8,000 injuries to the inner ear area. A third of patients experience permanent consequences such as tinnitus.

The fact that accidents are becoming more and more serious should not come as a surprise to anyone who was in an ordinary German city center at the turn of the year. Rockets were fired specifically at people, Chinese firecrackers were thrown directly at their feet – and yes: emergency services were attacked.

The attacks on the fire instructors in particular show the insanity of the so-called New Year’s Eve custom. Almost 1,900 missions were reported from Berlin alone; 825 fires had to be put out.

Added to this is all the other collateral damage caused by the fireworks, for which the Germans recently spent a record sum of 180 million euros. Most animals suffer from noise, whether in the house or in nature. In addition, around 1,500 tons of fine dust are blown into the air within just a few hours. Not to mention the pointlessly produced waste.

That’s why there has to be a ban. Even if parties like the CDU, AfD and FDP are against it, there is no fundamental right to wantonly endanger yourself and others.

There are also sensible compromise solutions. In France, for example, many cities have banned private pyrotechnics and instead have fireworks carried out centrally by professionals.

And: Even in Germany, surveys repeatedly show a majority in favor of a ban or at least stricter regulations. .