A fireworks ban was in effect throughout the Netherlands last night, yet in many places decorative fireworks went into the air. It is unclear exactly how many fireworks went into the air, but it is clear that the fireworks ban has been massively ignored.
“We do not want to pass judgment on that,” said police spokesman Robbert Salome. “However, that ban is there for a reason. There are risks associated with the use of illegal fireworks, but that is not what we as the police are about. That has to do with health care.”
Leo Groeneveld of the Pyrotechnics Netherlands Association (BPN), the association of companies that work with fireworks, expresses his amazement at the amount of fireworks. “I’m surprised about it.”
In ‘normal’ years without a fireworks ban, he calls various distributors and traders to estimate the amount of fireworks that will be set off. That was not possible this time, but he still estimates that twice as many decorative fireworks went into the air than last year, when there was also a fireworks ban.
ignored
The fireworks did not come as a surprise to the police. Yesterday it was predicted that the fireworks ban would be massively ignored, because many batches of fireworks were intercepted. Nationally, about 180,000 kilos of illegal fireworks were seized this year, a record.
This is the New Year’s Eve in pictures:
–
