2024 can come: Germany and the world celebrate New Year's Eve

Turn of the year - 2024 can come: Germany and the world celebrate New Year's Eve

Billions of people are looking forward to the new year 2024. In Germany, there was the usual debate about the sense and nonsense of private firecrackers and fireworks before New Year's Eve. For example, the German Medical Association called for a ban on firecrackers due to the enormous risk of injury. The anticipation of the New Year in Germany is also overshadowed by the threat of terrorism and fear of riots - especially in Cologne and Berlin. In parts of Lower Saxony, people are still battling floods.

For most people in Germany, the weekend until Sunday evening is likely to be dominated by party plans, shopping and preparations for New Year's Eve and the New Year's Day holiday on Monday.

The sale of fireworks began on Thursday and is still permitted until this Saturday. However, rockets and firecrackers may only be set off on New Year's Eve from 6 p.m. - at other times it is prohibited, although not everyone may be aware of this. In many places in Germany, there have already been violent clashes for days, and numerous incidents and accidents have already been reported.

"The political leaders should spend New Year's Eve in an ambulance or in an emergency room, then their view of the seemingly peaceful New Year's Eve fireworks would quickly change," said Klaus Reinhardt, President of the German Medical Association, according to a press release ahead of the New Year's Eve weekend.

In Cologne, the police want to strictly secure the world-famous church on New Year's Eve following the terror alert for the cathedral. Preparations will be made to counter "possible attacks", said the head of operations. It is possible that police officers with submachine guns will be seen. The measure is important to enable the population to celebrate peacefully.

Cathedral provost Guido Assmann felt much safer thanks to the police's preparations. "I don't think there is any other place of worship in Germany as safe as Cologne Cathedral at the moment," he told WDR television.

The mayor of the only city in North Rhine-Westphalia with a population of more than one million, Henriette Reker, called it right and appropriate that so many police forces have been brought together here. "Cologne is the metropolis of North Rhine-Westphalia," she told WDR. "That's why this attack threat is aimed at the cathedral and not just any chapel in the state."

For Tobias Schmidt from the Gelsenkirchen fire department, however, the increased police deployment is just "a drop in the ocean". He told WDR's "Aktuelle Stunde" program that not even the hotspots across the country could be secured in such a way that his colleagues would be able to return home safely.

Before Christmas, security authorities had received information about a possible attack plan by an Islamist group relating to New Year's Eve. Security precautions at Cologne Cathedral had already been increased for the Christmas celebrations. The cathedral was closed to tourists until further notice.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) announced in the "Tagesspiegel" newspaper that she would "crack down" on general outbreaks of violence or attacks on police officers. "Our emergency services have experienced time and again that blind rage is carried out on their backs," she said. "The response to this must be a tough crackdown by the police, but also by the judiciary."

With New Year's Eve approaching, many dog owners are once again faced with worries: where to take their noisy pets when there are fireworks? In recent years, some resourceful dog owners have found a guaranteed firework-free location: Cologne/Bonn Airport. "Last year, we counted around 15 responsible dog owners with their pets," said an airport spokeswoman.

Dogs and their owners need not fear fireworks in the immediate vicinity: Fireworks are prohibited on the entire airport site. This applies to all airports, including Düsseldorf and Dortmund.

It takes 26 hours between 11 a.m. CET on December 31 and 1 p.m. CET on January 1 for the entire globe to start the new year. It begins in the island state of Kiribati, continues via Australia, Asia to Europe, South America, the US East Coast, California, Hawaii to the uninhabited islands of Baker Island and Howland Island back in the Pacific.

The year 2024 lasts longer than 2023 - as a leap year, it has 366 days.