One of Germany’s most popular Members of Parliament (Bundestag), 76-year-old Bündnis 90/Die Grünen party member Hans-Christian Ströbele, has yesterday proposed a ban for the loudest bangers for this New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. He fears that citizens might be frightened by the loud bangers following the Paris terrorist attacks and the cancellation of the football friendly between Germany and the Netherlands due to terrorist threats in November.
His intention is to ban only the loudest bangers that are “three to ten times louder than your ordinary banger.”
But his call was quickly rejected by the Federation of the Pyrotechnic Industry (VPI). VPI president Klaus Gotzen countered that, although he found the call “Nice indeed”, German and EU laws already specify a maximum noise level for firecrackers, he told the Saarbrücker Zeitung.
To get a picture of how it bangs on New Year’s Eve in Germany’s biggest cities, watch the video from Berlin below.