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Firework ban initiative gets 100,000 signatures

fireworks
The intitative proposes restrictions to protect animals and humans. © Ti-press

More than 100,000 people have approved and signed a popular initiative calling for restriction of fireworks to combat air pollution and nuisance.

There is therefore a good chance that the initiative will succeed and be put to a vote, reports Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

“Fireworks are a source of stress for people who are sensitive to noise or who want to spend a relaxing evening outdoors. They cause panic among young children and animals,” argues the committee of the popular initiative “For a limitation of fireworks” on its website.

The text calls for private individuals to be banned from setting off fireworks “that cause noise” on  August 1 (Swiss National Day) and New Year’s Day. The aim is to protect humans and animals from excessive noise pollution.

The initiators announced on their website on Friday that they had received 101,615 signatures, of which 83,360 had been authenticated. For an initiative to be put to the vote in Switzerland, 100,000 valid signatures are required.

Corinne Meister, a member of the committee, told RTS that the collection of signatures was continuing.

Exceptional authorisations

Loud fireworks would only be permitted at supra-regional events.

The initiative committee says it is supported by several environmental and animal protection organisations, Pro Natura, Greenpeace Switzerland and the Noise League.

It intends to submit the text to Bern at the end of October to meet the deadline.

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here. 

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