Five killed on night of fireworks chaos in Germany

Burned fireworks are seen in front of a shop in Berlin's Weissensee district on January 1. Photo / AFP

Five people died from fireworks accidents in Germany on New Year’s Eve, triggering calls to ban celebrations with pyrotechnics in the streets.

A 24-year-old man near Paderborn, in North Rhine-Westphalia, was killed by a homemade firework that detonated prematurely. Police believe he had constructed it himself, highlighting concerns about the dangers of unregulated or improvised fireworks.

German police and doctors have pleaded for politicians to outlaw the tradition of individuals setting off fireworks in streets, ranging from city centres to suburban neighbourhoods.

“If politicians continue to do nothing, they will contribute to thousands of people being injured by New Year’s Eve fireworks every year, and doctors, rescue workers and law enforcement officers being threatened with firecrackers or physically attacked,” said Klaus Reinhardt, the president of the German Medical Association.

Setting off fireworks in the street has become commonplace in Germany in recent years, and has in the past been blamed on migrants and poor integration.

Reinhardt, whose call for stricter regulation or bans on private fireworks was supported by the police union, added: “Nobody wants to deprive people of the opportunity to celebrate New Year’s Eve in a boisterous manner”.

He proposed alternatives such as centrally organised fireworks or drone and laser shows, warning that negligent and alcohol-fuelled use of firecrackers and rockets could lead to severe injuries.

“Eye and ear injuries are particularly common on New Year’s Eve,” he said. “What is particularly alarming is that many children and young people become victims.”

Simone Borris, the mayor of Magdeburg, which recently suffered the Christmas market terror attack, had called on citizens to abstain from setting off fireworks this year. “There is no reason to celebrate in the state capital, and therefore no reason for New Year’s Eve fireworks,” she said.

Even before New Year’s Eve, rescue workers in Berlin were shot at with fireworks, and during the night police arrested more than 50 people in relation to the illegal use of fireworks. Several blank-firing guns and pyrotechnics were seized.

Iris Spranger, the interior senator, had said that “anyone who attacks emergency services or commits crimes on New Year’s Eve will, in all likelihood, spend the New Year in police custody”.