New Year's fireworks banned again in Germany amid pandemic worries

Germany has decided for the second year in a row, as its upper house on Friday signed off on a rule that will ban the sale of fireworks in the lead-up to New Year's Eve.

Germany is in the midst of a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic - and the health minister just said he's worried a bad fifth wave is on its way. With hospitals concerned about being overwhelmed, they don't have time to deal with the injuries that crop up every year due to fireworks accidents.

Many Germans are enthusiastic about blasting off fireworks as one year gives way to another, turning whole neighbourhoods into pyrotechnic shows at the end of the year.

Opponents argue it makes residential areas feel like war zones and doctors point to a regular upsurge in injuries as firecrackers go off in users' hands or blast off towards individuals.

The Bundesrat's action on Friday makes official a rule agreed upon by the Cabinet earlier this month.

"Hospitals and medical practices have been under massive pressure from the pandemic for months,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said last week. "We now want to prevent any additional stress and any avoidable medical emergency."

But critics say that many people will just go shopping in neighbouring countries such as Poland, where more powerful fireworks than are permitted for sale in Germany have long been available.

The German customs office in Frankfurt an der Oder, a town that sits on Polish border, expects 2.5 to 3 tons of illegal fireworks to be smuggled in by the end of the year.

The lost sales from fireworks in Germany this season is estimated to clock in at around 122 million euros, the country's pyrotechnic association said.

For the time being, the sales ban only applies to the days over the New Year. But environmental and animal protection associations have been calling for a general ban on fireworks for years.

In addition to the risk of injury, they point to pollution impacts, fire hazards and the stress on animals.