The FDP has rejected demands from environmental aid, the police, the German Medical Association, and environmental aid for a ban on private New Year’s fireworks. “I think it’s unfair to completely ban private fireworks” said FDP General Secretary Marco Buschmann to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (Friday edition).
“That would be collective responsibility. One shouldn’t have to like the noise, but once a year, one should give people the freedom to maintain this tradition” Buschmann said.
To prevent fatal accidents with banned crackers, which occurred on New Year’s Eve, one should appeal to the personal responsibility of citizens. For such crackers, already severe penalties, including multiple-year prison sentences, or substantial fines, are threatened. “If people still put themselves in danger with such crackers for their own sake, it’s a matter of voluntary self-endangerment” Buschmann said.
Environmental aid, the police, and the medical association base their demands, among other things, on the danger to people, the additional workload for security forces and hospitals, and environmental pollution by rockets.