Sales start for New Year's Eve fireworks

Turn of the year - Sales start for New Year's Eve fireworks - concern about attacks

In some places, shopping carts full of firecrackers and rockets are pushed out of the supermarkets at the start of the firework sales. The first bangs can be heard on the streets. Elsewhere, urgent words can be heard: "Don't attack us. Don't shoot us with firecrackers, rockets or alarm guns."

The appeal comes from a policewoman, a policeman and a firefighter from Berlin in a video published on the X platform (formerly Twitter). "We're going into action together. So that you can celebrate New Year's Eve safely. And to help you if you need us," they say. "Please respect our work. Give us enough space to do it. And follow our instructions."

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Violence against emergency services: "sad everyday life"

The appeal is no coincidence: there have been repeated attacks on emergency services in recent years. They have been shot at with rockets and pelted with firecrackers. It was particularly bad in Berlin in 2022. The quality of the attacks on emergency services last year was new, "for example when rescue workers were lured into suspected ambushes and attacked", said Berlin's police commissioner Barbara Slowik.

Even outside of New Year's Eve, every second volunteer firefighter has experienced violence in the form of insults, verbal abuse, threats or physical attacks in the past two years (49.5 percent). This is the result of a survey presented in Berlin on Thursday by the German Fire Brigade Association and the German Social Accident Insurance. 14% of the more than 6,500 firefighters surveyed between the beginning and middle of November also stated that they had been pelted with fireworks.

"We are also seeing a continuous increase in attacks against police, rescue and fire department personnel in the police statistics," said Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, commenting on the results. "We are seeing a brutalization in our society that must cause us great concern. This is about attacks on people who work for our safety every day under difficult, sometimes life-threatening conditions."

"The number of incidents of violence experienced against emergency services personnel is too high - and has become sadly commonplace," said Karl-Heinz Banse, President of the German Fire Service Association. Many of those affected still do not report incidents to the police because they do not believe that their concerns will be taken seriously.

"We must finally respond to this"

Emergency services also feel let down by politicians. "Ever since last year's violent excesses in Berlin, but also in numerous places in the Ruhr region and even in Bonn, which is actually a peaceful city, everyone knows that something has gone wrong in our society. We must finally react to this," said Jochen Kopelke, Chairman of the Police Union (GdP), in the Rheinische Post newspaper (Thursday).

"Why are politicians not finally giving the police the legal means to take consistent action against those involved in the violent excesses? And why haven't we had a ban on the sale of firecrackers on New Year's Eve for a long time? Just like we do all year round," continued the GdP chairman.

Fire department president Karl-Heinz Banse also says: "The state must ensure that those who do this are punished with the full force of the law. There's still a problem there."

Many politicians agree with him: "There needs to be more respect for others and consistent punishment for those who don't play by the rules. Behind every uniform is a person," said North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU).

In addition to tougher penalties for those who abuse this special party pleasure, emergency services as well as medical representatives, environmentalists, animal rights activists and other organizations are calling for a general ban on the use of firecrackers. Among other things, they point to the risk of injury and the burden on hospitals.

For example, the Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin (UKB) will have to significantly increase its operating capacity on New Year's Eve. "We assume that operations will be carried out continuously from 3.00 a.m. until late New Year's Eve," said a spokeswoman. On average, affected patients were treated on the ward for around ten days, with some of them having to be operated on several times. Numerous patients lost fingers or parts of them. But the face, eyes and ears are also injured.

Serious injuries on New Year's Eve are mostly male

Those seriously injured by fireworks are noticeably often male - according to an evaluation by the UKB of around 150 patients who were treated as inpatients with serious hand injuries around the turn of the year from 2005/06 to 2022/23, 97 percent of them were male. "They use firecrackers and fireworks more frequently and are more prone to risky behavior when lighting them than women," say experts from the Department of Hand, Replantation and Microsurgery. Alcohol consumption also plays a major role.

Despite the risks and the constant warnings, New Year's Eve fireworks continue to boom. The Association of the Pyrotechnic Industry (VPI) expects demand for firecrackers and rockets to be as high as in 2022, when the industry achieved record sales of 180 million euros. This year, the three-day sale started exceptionally on December 28 because New Year's Eve falls on a Sunday.

Younger people in particular seem to be attracted to fireworks: 33% of 18 to 24-year-olds surveyed by the opinion research institute Yougov stated that they wanted to buy fireworks for New Year's Eve this year. The figure for all age groups is 18 percent.

Convince rather than ban

However, not everyone is convinced by a general ban on fireworks. Gerd Landsberg, Managing Director of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, says: "We should not always work with bans, but with persuasion," said Managing Director Gerd Landsberg.

Convincing - that is what the Berlin emergency services are trying to do with their joint video appeal against the misuse of fireworks. Also with a view to the consequences for the attackers themselves: "You are liable to prosecution and face several years in prison." The three participants appeal: "So don't ruin your future. And respect us. The people who are there for you and your families."

X-Post from the Berlin police and fire department trade association on fireworks sales 2023