After numerous attacks on emergency services on New Year’s Eve, the Hamburg interior authorities are considering extending the ban on firecrackers at the turn of the year. The interior authority announced on Monday that there would be a detailed evaluation of the situation to clarify whether there was an increased risk of fireworks in certain locations. This could lead to a legal review of extending the ban on fireworks to other areas of the city, said spokesman Daniel Schaefer.
The burning of pyrotechnics was already forbidden around the Binnenalster and on the Rathausmarkt. On New Year’s Eve, pyrotechnics and bottles were thrown at several officers and patrol cars, including in Harburg, on the Reeperbahn, at the Landungsbrücken and on Schanzenstrasse. In St. Pauli, a 51-year-old officer was hit on the head from a group and was injured and taken to the hospital.
Firefighters and rescuers were also attacked. In the Schnelsen district, a firefighter suffered burns when he and several colleagues were shot at with firecrackers. In Niendorf, a man attacked an emergency doctor and a paramedic. “What is frightening in our New Year’s Eve balance sheet is the way in which emergency services, the professional fire brigade and the volunteer fire brigades were aggressively attacked with fireworks during New Year’s Eve, downright shot at,” said a spokesman for the fire brigade.
“We take the incidents and in particular the attacks on emergency services on New Year’s Eve very seriously,” said Schaefer. Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD) wished the injured colleagues a quick and full recovery.
