The fireworks industry wants to use summary proceedings to ensure that fireworks are allowed to be lit in the coming New Year’s Eve. This is what chairman Leo Groeneveld of the Pyrotechnics Netherlands Association (BPN) says. The outgoing cabinet approved a temporary national fireworks ban on Friday,
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The aim of this ban is to prevent as much as possible extra burden on healthcare, enforcers and care providers due to the corona pandemic.
The fireworks industry is sharpening its knives. “We are not resigned to that decision,” says Groeneveld, partly on behalf of fireworks importers, shopkeepers and fireworks enthusiasts. They gathered on Saturday afternoon for a meeting. Together they came to the conclusion that they want to legally challenge the ban.
The fireworks dealer Ruud van den Broeke from Overijssel was also at that meeting this afternoon. “The request to do something came emphatically from the Fireworks Lovers Association (HVLH),” he says. “That’s where the idea came from to file a lawsuit and pay for this lawsuit with crowdfunding.”
Lots of comments
Since it became known that no fireworks may be lit during the New Year, the sector has received a lot of reactions, according to its own words. “Millions of Dutch people want to set off ornamental fireworks during New Year’s Eve. Everyone is ready for that in this rotten time that we are in right now,” says Groeneveld.
In Overijssel, the fireworks ban resulted in disappointed reactions among fireworks dealers. For the second year they see the sale of fireworks going up in smoke. Mayors responded with satisfaction and the police in Overijssel is also happy with the ban that the cabinet has imposed.
Van den Broeke refers to a statement by David Baden, chairman of the Association of Emergency Medicine Doctors. He told the NOS yesterday that a fireworks ban is not necessary. “With New Year’s Eve we naturally see normal patients, but especially many people with alcohol and drug problems, often with a number of victims with fireworks,” said Baden.
Baden’s statement reinforces Van den Broeke’s view that the cabinet engages in ‘symbol politics’ and that a fireworks ban is not necessary at all.
Plannable care
The reason for the decision was the increasing number of corona patients who had to be admitted to hospitals in recent weeks. Planned care is therefore sometimes postponed and that can lead to health damage.
For example, yesterday the news came out that Isala hospital has to scale down its critical plannable care. The measures taken by the Zwolle hospital are a direct result of the scaling up of corona care. a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday.
The fireworks industry disagrees with the argument that a fireworks ban would relieve the burden of concern. Groeneveld also refers to the care sector, where many voices can be heard that the ban is a “symbolic measure”, which has no influence on the availability of care.
Millions of Dutch people want to light decorative fireworks. Everyone is ready for this in this rotten time we are in right now
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