Overview
- Deutsche Umwelthilfe and the #böllerciao alliance delivered a petition with 1,035,809 signatures and an open letter to the Federal Interior Ministry in Berlin.
- The appeal, citing at least seven deaths, serious injuries, fires and hazardous fine-particulate levels from the 2025/26 celebrations, demands an immediate change to the explosives regulation to impose a nationwide sales and use ban.
- Separate drives reported large backing, including a Police Union petition with about 3.25 million supporters and a Campact appeal with roughly 439,000.
- Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt did not receive the petition in person and has not backed a ban, and federal and state interior ministers failed to agree on a nationwide approach in December.
- Pyrotechnics associations and practitioners oppose a blanket prohibition, arguing it would punish lawful users and could push people toward dangerous illegal fireworks, and they call for stricter enforcement and education instead.