Another New Year's Eve was marred by injuries and five deaths from fireworks explosions in Germany have reignited the country's debate over stricter fireworks regulations or a possible nationwide ban.
Although this year's New Year's Eve celebrations were generally peaceful, at least five people were killed in fireworks-related incidents and police arrested hundreds of people across Germany as they welcomed in 2025.
In Berlin, where many people were injured by fireworks, some seriously, some local officials called for stricter rules and a crackdown on powerful illegal fireworks that enter Germany from Poland or the Czech Republic.
Unlike many other countries, in Germany anyone can buy fireworks and use them on New Year's Eve, except in restricted areas. Age restrictions apply to some types of pyrotechnics that are considered more dangerous.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said yesterday that new rules were needed, but stopped short of a complete ban.
"Most Berliners celebrated the New Year peacefully. Why should we deprive them and their families of a happy New Year's Eve with traditional fireworks?" Wegner told DPA.
Wegner, who is a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union, said Germany's federal government should introduce stricter rules on things like flare guns and try to better control the flow of illegal fireworks into the country from Poland and the Czech Republic through "tighter border controls."
Berlin's interior minister, on the other hand, has spoken out in favor of a broad ban on fireworks across Germany, with only a few local exceptions.
Minister Iris Spranger told DPA that she would prefer a new legal framework that would allow fireworks to be used only in a few designated areas. "pyrozones".
One hospital in the German capital - "Unfalkrankenhaus Berlin" (UKB), reported yesterday that 42 people remain hospitalized with fireworks injuries.
"More patients are coming to us from other hospitals," UKB spokeswoman Angela Kiewski told DPA.
She said several patients, including children, had suffered serious injuries to their hands, faces and eyes from powerful illegal fireworks known as "ball bombs".
Others have suffered serious hearing damage, including permanent hearing loss, as a result of the explosions, the spokeswoman added.
The so-called "ball bombs", which are generally banned in Germany because of their high explosiveness, are becoming increasingly popular among revelers, who often bring them from nearby countries.
In the Berlin district of Schöneberg, for example, facades of apartment buildings and cars were severely damaged by the shock waves from the explosions, many windows were broken.
A total of 36 apartments are currently uninhabitable, city officials said.
In the town of Kremen, about 25 kilometers northwest of Berlin, a 21-year-old man was killed when a "ball bomb" type of fireworks exploded in a field.
A local police spokeswoman in Kremen said the fireworks were powerful enough to require a special permit to purchase them, and that police had seized the debris from the explosives as part of an ongoing investigation into where the fireworks came from.
In Berlin, the UKB warned of the dangers of fireworks in an article in the "Ex": "Illegal homemade fireworks and imported "ball bombs" are something terrible!".
Mayor Wegner praised Berlin's police and fire department for the way they handled the New Year's chaos and said measures taken in recent years had paid off, including the declaration of "fire-free zones" where fireworks are banned.
Berlin police arrested around 400 people at New Year's celebrations - roughly the same number as a year ago.
Some of the suspects were said to have attacked police or others with pyrotechnics, while others were caught with illegal weapons or fireworks. Others were arrested on suspicion of violence or arson.
"One thing is clear: we will continue to take action against criminals who resort to violence in our city, with the full force of the rule of law," Wegner said.
Translated from English: Bozhidar Zahariev, BTA