Fireworks on New Year's Eve still allowed

The nanny state leaped into action recently, as ÖDP city councillor Tobias Ruff supported a ban on fireworks in proximity to certain venues.

He had demanded a fireworks exclusion zone be set up around the zoo. District administration adviser Thomas Böhle (SPD) rejected the proposal for legal reasons. In order to be able to implement a fireworks prohibition approximately around the zoo, according to the Abendzeitung - and at other sensitive places in the city - the laws would have to change at the federal level. Apparently the city simply lacks the legal means to issue such a ban. Therefore the crusading city councillor and attorney Christian Vorländer (SPD) now demand that "We must strengthen the rights of action of the municipalities."

He welcomes an amendment by the CSU parliamentary group which is similar to the proposal of his SPD parliamentary group. For example, the CSU demanded on Tuesday that Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) should lobby for corresponding legal regulations at the federal and state level. The city council voted in favor of the motion. City councillor Evelyne Menges (CSU) said: "For the future, the municipalities need the possibility to restrict fireworks in the vicinity of zoos and nature reserves. For the animals, New Year's Eve means pure stress every year and nature suffers from the garbage produced by firecrackers and rockets".

The ÖDP faction sees it the same way. Emergency rooms in hospitals are full of injured people on New Year's Eve, pets and wild animals panic, fires break out again and again, protected landscape areas are devastated, entire streets are littered with garbage. Ruff also states "New Year's Eve rockets and firecrackers cause two percent of the fine dust released all year round in one night".

Therefore his parliamentary group had demanded a city-wide ban on firecrackers. This was rejected. After all, the ban on firecrackers and fireworks, which was first decided in 2019, will probably also apply this year in parts of the city center and within the Mittlerer Ring.

In additional news, Munich politicians are also lobbying to have Santa Claus banned from entering Munich airspace and potentially being forced into self-isolation with his reindeer. The nanny state claim this is for our benefit and that they know best.

Photo by Ian Schneider