Germany: Police and firefighters call for firework ban after New Year attacks

German police and firefighters' unions called for a ban on personal fireworks on New Year's Eve, as well as increased surveillance capabilities for emergency services following dozens of attacks on personnel.

"It is unimaginable what our emergency forces had to experience on this New Year's," Lars Wieg, chairman of the police union for Berlin and Brandenberg, said late on Sunday.

At least 33 officers and firefighters were injured in the capital alone, and dozens of similar incidents were reported across Germany — not only accidents, but also "purposeful, targeted" attacks with fireworks, officials said.

"We don't need tougher penalties. I just want these penalties to be enforced," Germany's national firefighters' union President Karl-Heinz Banse told the German news agency dpa. "It cannot be that our people are endangered, almost run over, and afterwards it's presented as a petty offense."

After a two-year moratorium on personal fireworks due to COVID-19 regulations, hundreds of thousands of people across Germany rang in the New Year on Saturday night by setting off personal fireworks.

Police in Bavaria described it as the "most intense" celebrations in recent memory, while in Hamburg they spoke of being "agressively approached" and "literally shot at" with the explosives.

Serious injuries and fatalities

As with most years, there were several firework-related deaths and dozens of major injuries, including the loss of fingers and hands.

Drunk revelers not only shot off fireworks at emergency workers, but also random passersby, officials said.

The Berlin-Brandenberg police union called for funds to increase surveillance measures for future New Year's celebrations, including hundreds of more dashcams for cars and bodycams for individual officers.

Conservatives oppose ban

Conservative politicians have come out against a suggested ban. Thorsten Frei, the deputy chairman of the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) in the Bundestag, told the Rheinische Post newspaper that "peaceful revelers should not have to suffer" for the actions of the few.

Members of the Free Democrats (FDP), the pro-business party that rules in coalition with the Green Party and Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD), have expressed similar sentiments.

FDP parliamentary leader Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, also speaking with Rheinische Post, said that "only consistent prosecution of the perpetrators under criminal law can prevent such attacks," and that a total ban was unfair to those who hadn't done anything wrong.