German officials call for ban on illegal fireworks after riots and 5 casualties!
German officials have called for restrictions on illegal fireworks as well as tougher penalties for rioters who attack emergency workers after five people were killed and dozens of civilians and police officers were injured across Germany on New Year's Eve.
Officials have particularly pointed to the use of "kugelbomben," or bullet bombs, explosives that are legally restricted to professional fireworks displays for the many firework injuries across the country, including 17 in Berlin alone. "The severity of the injuries [this year] is unusual," a spokesman for the UKB hospital in Berlin, where young children were brought for serious fireworks injuries, told local media.
"For young people, it's no longer enough that it's a sparkler. It's also no longer legal fireworks," said Jochen Kopelke, federal head of the police union, GdP, adding that bullet bombs with more explosive power were being thrown into crowds. Bombs are mainly imported into Germany from neighboring countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic and are illegal in Germany except for professional fireworks displays.
Politicians this year called for tighter border controls to limit the use of illegal pyrotechnics, with CDU politician Burkard Dregger calling the use of lead bombs "the main cause of injuries and property damage" this year.
"The importation of banned fireworks from eastern neighboring countries must be stopped with even stricter border controls," Dregger told broadcaster RBB. Five people died across Germany, most from homemade pyrotechnics that exploded prematurely. At least one death, of a 21-year-old man in Brandenburg, is being investigated for the use of illegal fireworks.
Fatal firework accidents and calls to limit them are nothing new in Germany, where the use of fireworks is allowed for a limited number of hours on New Year's Eve that extends into the next day. German pyrotechnic associations have said that most of the deaths and injuries from fireworks can be traced to illegal and DIY use of fireworks, rather than pyrotechnics that are legally sold in shops on the eve of the evening.
The use of personal fireworks, however, is easily regulated and illegal fireworks are often advertised for purchase on social media in the run-up to the evening. Personal fireworks have also been used against emergency personnel in riots across Germany. In Berlin, 400 people were arrested after confrontations and attacks that injured 30 police officers overnight. A policeman in Berlin underwent surgery after being shot by an illegal firework, according to a police spokesman.
Similar scenes were seen across Germany, with emergency responders reporting attacks involving fireworks in Hamburg, Leipzig, Kiel and Cologne. "The annual brutalization on New Year's Eve is almost unbearable," said Jan Krumlovsky, state chairman of PBB Saxony about this year's chaos.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the tabloid newspaper Bild that tougher penalties should be applied to those who attack the emergency services. She said a bill imposing five years in prison for those who lure police officers, paramedics or doctors into "dangerous ambushes" must be passed before the country holds national elections in February.
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