LIVE | Mayors want a blanket fireworks ban on corona | Inland

The 25 mayors who together form the Security Council, together argue for a total fireworks ban around the turn of the year. They do not want the firing and sale of firecrackers and arrows to continue this year. “Fireworks not only cause damage and put enormous pressure on the emergency services, it also creates a lot of uncertainty and tensions this year,” said chairman Hubert Bruls on behalf of the mayors.

The Lower House will debate fireworks on Tuesday. GroenLinks and the Party for the Animals argued on Thursday for a sales ban on almost all consumer fireworks this year. State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven (Environment) indicated on Friday that the cabinet is considering a fireworks ban during the coming turn of the year, to spare the care overloaded by corona. “It will be an uncertain turn of the year. This measure helps to bring a little more rest. Also for hospitals and general practitioners, because as a result they receive fewer patients ”, says Bruls, the mayor of Nijmegen.

He realizes that many people are very much looking forward to the moment when they can ‘pop’. “We have to keep the virus at bay. This is the most serious crisis since the Second World War. We should all let go of things that we really like. If the fireworks are one of the things we have to give up, then so be it. ”

The Belangenvereniging Pyrotechniek Nederland (BPN) is amazed at the call of the mayors and points out that the use of, among other things, bangers, decorative arrows and fireworks in the heavier category has already been banned at the beginning of this year. “The decorative fireworks that remain can be controlled very well. If that is no longer allowed, there is a chance that people will get fireworks in Germany or Belgium because it is simply in the shops there. A lot is already being bought there. It is therefore more likely that they will bring fireworks that we have already abolished here. ”

Many mayors have long had a desire to ban parting. They would prefer that no fireworks may be sold at all this year. But that’s not them, explains Bruls. They cannot make this compulsory, the cabinet must do that.

During the Security meeting, at which ministers Hugo de Jonge and Ferd Grapperhaus also sat down, illegal parties were still on the agenda on Monday evening. “We have concluded that because the fines are so low, it does not deter organizers of these kinds of parties and visitors. Also confiscating the equipment does not work, because these items are often rented. That is why we are looking at how we can hit the organizers in particular, ”warns the mayor of Nijmegen.

The mayors hope that The Hague will come up with new national and no regional rules on Tuesday. “The support for a national package is by far the greatest. That is the clearest and best to explain to everyone. ”

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Read the corona news from here Sunday, November 1.

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