Chancellor condemns incidents on New Year’s Eve in which firefighters and police officers were targeted

German police and firefighters’ unions have called for a ban on personal fireworks on New Year’s Eve, as the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, condemned incidents of rescue services being targeted with firecrackers and rockets.

Groups of inebriated individuals setting off their own firework displays are a familiar sight on German streets at Silvester (New Year’s Eve), with shops allowed to sell not only sparklers but also small rockets, fountains and firecrackers during the last three days of the year.

From nuclear energy to sending weapons to Ukraine, Die Grünen embraced pragmatism in 2022. Can its politicians hold their nerve?

Germany’s Green party once made its name campaigning against high military spending, nuclear power and dirty fossil fuels.

Since taking office as part of Olaf Scholz’s three-party “traffic light” coalition government last December, however, Die Grünen have become the Bundestag’s most vocal advocates of supporting the Ukrainian resistance with heavy weapons. They have extended the running time of three nuclear power stations due to shut down at the end of the year, reactivated mothballed coal plants and built the country’s first terminals for importing fossil fuel in liquefied form.