01/14/25 Petition Continues With 35,000 Signatures Gathered to Ban Pyrotechnics
Wealth of citizens sign the petition demanding concrete measures to stop the terrors of pyrotechnics!
- Animal Friends Croatia write to Prime Minister Plenković to demand urgent amendments to Act on Explosives
During only a few days, the number of signatures gathered for a petition launched by Animal Friends Croatia to ban loud pyrotechnics has skyrocketed! “As of this moment, 35,000 people have signed a petition demanding legislative changes that would ensure that the next Christmas holidays and New Year are spent in peace instead of a war-like atmosphere as we experienced in December 2024. We express our thanks to the Count Dracula activist platform which launched an online initiative thus helping us gather a large number of signatures. Their post, in which they showed dramatic and disturbing images of animals and humans terrorised by pyrotechnic violence, has been shared by many celebrities such as Tarik Filipović, Minea and Slavko Sobin,” said Snježana Klopotan Kačavenda, Animal Friends Croatia Project Coordinator.
The Group Writes to the Prime Minister to Advocate for Urgent Legal Amendments
Klopotan Kačavenda explained the group had sent a letter to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković demanding that he support urgent amendments to the Act on Explosives and Weapon Manufacturing and Trade: “We pleaded with the Prime Minister to support the goals of our petition so that Croatia can join those European countries which have already introduced bans on all but F1 category pyrotechnics, alongside others which are considering this option as the only effective solution. We demand that loud pyrotechnics in categories F2 and F3 be completely banned for personal use; allowed pyrotechnics to be available for sale only between December 29 and 31, pyrotechnics with light-effects be permitted exclusively for two hours around midnight on New Year’s Eve; a ban placed on advertising pyrotechnics and its sale in grocery stores, and finally, harsher penalties for any pyrotechnics misuse.”
Ministry of Interior appeal for pyrotechnics not to be used while still legally permitted
Animal Friends Croatia emphasized that appeals by the Ministry of Interior for the public to use pyrotechnics as reasonably and as little as possible cannot be successful as long as pyrotechnics are offered and advertised to children as a fun toy, sales permitted from December 15, and their use permitted from December 27, even if no celebrations take place on those days preceding the New Year’s. If we are to reduce injuries suffered by children, animal deaths and environmental pollution, we need concrete measures that will completely ban loud pyrotechnics and their promotion. Last week the group also sent their proposal to the Minister of Interior Davor Božinović and are currently awaiting a response in the light of Chief Police Officer’s statement that serious consideration will be given to the complete ban of such pyrotechnics.
Firecrackers are banned, but equally loud air bomb detonations are permitted?!?
Although firecrackers have been banned since 2021, other pyrotechnic devices from categories F2 and F3 have been detonating across Croatia, including air bombs and rockets which produce the same level of noise as the strongest of firecrackers. Nikola Turkalj, Head of Inspection Affairs, explained that the public was disturbed by detonations of bombs containing one hundred or more grams of explosive matter, only free of shrapnel. Thus, a minority of citizens terrorized their fellow citizens for the entirety of December by firing pyrotechnic devices that have the same effect on humans, animals, and the environment as the banned firecrackers.
“Every year, the terror of loud pyrotechnics causes the death of many dogs, cats, birds, and other animals. Pyrotechnics continue to terrorize the sick and the elderly, parents of children with autism, PTSP sufferers, heart patients, and other vulnerable members of the public for days. Therefore, we invite everyone who has not yet signed the petition at www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr to do so and to share it with others so that we spend the next New Year’s without mistreatment of humans, killing of animals, property destruction or air pollution,” stated Animal Friends Croatia.