Coalition party D66 backs calls for total ban on consumer fireworks

Liberal democratic party D66 has done a u-turn and now backs a nationwide ban on consumer fireworks, following more trouble during this year’s New Year’s Eve festivities.

MP Hanneke van der Werf, the party’s spokeswoman on public safety issues, said on Monday that there is no alternative.

‘Once again, people were injured and the police attacked,’ she said. ‘Children are waiting at home to see if their father who works for the police or fire brigade comes home in one piece. It is a situation we have tolerated for a long time, but is not normal.’

Van der Werf said the call by mayors and police unions for a total ban has also influenced party opinion. ‘It [fireworks] are a Dutch tradition which is difficult to explain abroad,’ she said. ‘We let it happen and look next day at the damage.’

Despite the D66 change of heart, there is no majority within either the coalition or parliament for a total ban.

Coalition partner CDA, for example, is calling for a proper evaluation of events ‘to further reduce the number of incidents’.

‘But expanding the firework ban is not going to solve anything,’ MP Raymond Knops said. ‘Then you are punishing people in all the places where there is no problem.’

The VVD, the biggest coalition party, does not back a ban either. It wants to see more done to combat illegal fireworks. This year police confiscated nearly 672,000 kilos of fireworks in the run up to the end of the year.

Debate

Opposition parties GroenLinks and the pro-animal Partij voor de Dieren say they plan to get the issue back on the parliamentary agenda and will call for a debate when MPs return from their winter break on January 17.

On Sunday and Monday, mayors from across the Netherlands renewed calls for a total ban on consumer fireworks after dozens of people were injured and the police and emergency service workers were attacked.

In total, 12 towns and cities had imposed local bans, while hundreds of others had set up firework free zones, but the rules were largely ignored.

Nijmegen mayor Hubert Bruls, who chairs the 25-city safety council, said the lack of a national ban meant cities which do want to stop consumer fireworks ‘are playing a game it is impossible to win’.