Over 130 municipalities are not very keen on local fireworks ban, find it ineffective
Over 130 Dutch municipalities do not have a local fireworks ban or fireworks-free zones during New Year's Eve. Dozens of municipalities believe that such measures are of little use as long as there is no national ban on setting off and selling fireworks. Enforcing a ban is also not possible for many municipalities at the moment, according to a survey by ANP to which more than 220 of the 342 municipalities responded.
In total, more than 200 municipalities stated that there is no general fireworks ban in effect within their borders this New Year's Eve. Over 60 municipalities do have fireworks-free zones during New Year's Eve, for example around nursing homes, churches, hospitals, and petting zoos.
New this year are Zutphen and Alkmaar. In the Noord-Holland city, a majority of residents voted in a referendum in favor of a fireworks ban. The municipality is deploying extra enforcement officers and camera surveillance. "But it is also known that enforcing the ban in practice will not be easy." Alkmaar expects that a fireworks ban will lead to "a gradual change in culture around setting off fireworks." Zutphen agrees and calls the ban "a long-term process" that will take several years "before everyone is used to it."
However, the number of municipalities that do have such a local fireworks ban, including Amsterdam, Tilburg, Rotterdam, Eindhoven, and Nijmegen, does not seem to increase much this year.
Overall, the municipalities say that a local ban does not work because residents who want to set off fireworks will do so somewhere else. "A local fireworks ban leads to displacement and nuisance elsewhere", says Reusel-De Mierden in Brabant. "The past New Year's Eve has shown that local fireworks bans, which were in place in various municipalities, do not work well and undermine authority", says Delft.
Many municipalities indicate that they also do not have enough enforcers to enforce a ban. For example, Woudenberg believes that enforcing a local ban under the current rules is "almost impossible", because fireworks may be sold and kept. "Locally, there is insufficient enforcement capacity at both the municipality and the police", says Bunschoten. Molenlanden says that local bans cannot be enforced "given the size of the area".
In total, about 60 municipalities cite enforcement as the reason why they do not want a local fireworks ban at this time. Bronckhorst, Bernheze, Maashorst, Heerde, Gooise Meren, Ede, Krimpenerwaard, Gorinchem, Berg en Dal, Kaag en Braassem, Landgraaf, Pijnacker-Nootdorp, Huizen, Moerdijk and Goeree-Overflakkee, among others, follow this line. Municipalities also indicate that it is very difficult to catch offenders red-handed, which is necessary to be able to punish them.
About 15 municipalities stated that there is no reason or need among residents to impose a fireworks ban in their area. "At the moment, there is no large-scale nuisance and insufficient political support for a general ban," says Capelle aan den IJssel. Vaals, Hof van Twente, De Wolden, Hoogeveen, De Fryske Marren, Oude IJsselstreek, and Valkenswaard also see no reason for a ban at the moment. "The tradition of fireworks is still appreciated by many residents," says Beesel in Limburg.
Police unions call on government to protect emergency workers during New Year's Eve
The police see a need for a national ban on fireworks and call on the government for more support on this. Especially because a ban would also protect the police and emergency workers, who also experience fireworks-related injuries on New Year's Eve, according to the police unions.
"The government is looking the other way when it comes to violence against emergency workers and permanent injuries, such as tinnitus due to hearing damage. They must now draw a line," says NPB chairman Nine Kooiman on behalf of the three police unions ACP, Equipe, and NPB. "If you really want to protect these people, as a government you ban both the setting off and the sale of fireworks."
In recent years, the police unions have repeatedly advocated a national fireworks ban, but the government has not responded to this request to date. "The pressure in society is increasing," Kooiman observes. "The violence and permanent injuries that emergency workers suffer are too bizarre for words." She also speaks of double standards when municipalities impose a local fireworks ban, while fireworks are still being sold. There is a risk that this will have a waterbed effect on surrounding municipalities without a fireworks ban. Local rules, such as a local ban on fireworks or fireworks-free zones, are not workable for the police, says Kooiman. "If you have national rules, you can enforce them uniformly. That is impossible now."
The unions had asked the police to take measures to be able to do their work safely. For example, officers are now being trained to better deal with groups of people who throw fireworks at emergency workers. The police are also focusing on detecting explosives throughout the year and will soon start a pilot with new hearing protection.
The new Minister of Justice and Security David van Weel will soon give a statement on fireworks and a possible ban. Earlier, at least three of the four government parties, Van Weel's own VVD and coalition partners PVV and BBB, saw little in it. GroenLinks-PvdA and the Party for the Animals have been working on their own law to ban consumer fireworks for some time now.
Reporting by ANP