Column | Two hundred injured officers and still no fireworks ban

New Year’s Eve is war, it became clear again this week. Anger and horror at deaths, injuries and destroyed lives are everywhere, but a complete fireworks ban is still not an option. The past cabinets did not dare when they were still in office. Politics certainly cannot get its act together in a resigning manner. The emergency services have been saying for years that things cannot continue like this.

The Eye Hospital in Rotterdam was full again from twelve o’clock at night. And although the nursing staff worked with a double staff, they could hardly cope with the ‘war night’. “Toleration costs eyes,” says ophthalmologist Tjeerd de Faber de Volkskrant. And lives. It appears that a 52-year-old dog owner was seriously assaulted because he confronted young people about throwing fireworks at his dog. He is died of his injuries. New Year’s Eve is also a nightmare for police officers and other first responders. As many as two hundred police officers were injured by fireworks this New Year’s Eve. 187 of them will report the crime.

Desperate reports from doctors appear in newspapers every year. But they don’t seem to have any effect. This also applies to local fireworks bans in some municipalities. According to some, the misery has only increased since fireworks are allowed in one municipality, but not in another. Suppose there had been a terrorist attack in the Netherlands on New Year’s Eve, resulting in several deaths, hundreds of injuries and children with permanent injuries? Then we wouldn’t rest until all the perpetrators had been arrested. But when it comes to fireworks, we don’t want to face the seriousness.

In 2020, Annemarie Jorritsma casually said on the radio that New Year’s Eve is such a fun party

Why is it not possible to introduce and enforce a total fireworks ban in the Netherlands? The blame for this lies largely with the VVD. On New Year’s Day in 2020, Annemarie Jorritsma casually said on the radio that it was such a fun party. This is the prevailing sentiment among the VVD and it does not seem to change, no matter how many deaths and injuries occur. In recent years, this was probably mainly due to fear of the populist right. The story among right-wing populists is that the left is trying to take away an important tradition from the people after Zwarte Piet.

A practical argument is that a fireworks ban would be unenforceable. Just look at those local bans, they don’t work either, do they? There’s something in that last one. Forbidding one person to do something that the neighbor further down the road is allowed to do: that does not appeal to the Dutch. That’s how it works with small children too. To start with, enforcement is calling for a national fireworks ban. Then you can also introduce a national fireworks sales ban. Continuing to sell fireworks in many places but at the same time banning them locally does not work.

Also read: VVD, shows liberal courage and bans fireworks

Much more is possible. Fireworks enthusiasts drive to Germany and Belgium to buy their (illegal) fireworks. Make agreements with those neighboring countries. In many Dutch border municipalities it was and is forbidden for foreigners to buy weed. The Belgians and Germans can also introduce something like this for Dutch people who come to buy fireworks from them. And possibly introduce border controls for New Year’s Eve, there are legal options for that too.

There is no doubt that the PVV, FVD and BBB are fighting the fireworks ban with their populist rhetoric about ‘tradition’. But I expect something different from liberal parties, given so much suffering and material damage. If every form of decency is lost on the streets on New Year’s night, then a complete ban is perfectly justifiable for a liberal. Just like the smoking ban in catering and office buildings at the time. No one complains about that anymore. No one dares to light up a cigar or cigarette in a café or restaurant anymore. Because the government then made it very clear that this was no longer possible and they also enforced the ban.

Aylin Bilic is headhunter en publicist.

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