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The town of Arnsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia has issued directives in several languages banning the sale of rockets and firecrackers to residents of refugee shelters, says a spokesperson.
The Arnsberg fire brigade also recommended that townspeople consider not launching any fireworks “to avoid reawakening memories in people who have fled war and conflict of the horrors that threatened them”.
Setting off fireworks at midnight to welcome the start of the new year on January 1 is traditional and a spectacular show at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate is broadcast live on television.
Germans last year spent €130m on New Year’s Eve fireworks, according to the pyrotechnics industry.
Posters in refugee homes have been put up explaining the ban, imposed partly for fear of fires breaking out in buildings used to house refugees.
Gymnasiums, unused hotels and empty buildings such as Berlin’s defunct Tempelhof airport have been turned into shelters for some of the million people who have sought asylum in Germany this year, many fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa.
Temporary buildings have also been erected.
