Prague 2 confirms alternative New Year’s Day fireworks show

A time and place has been announced for the alternative New Year’s Day fireworks show, announced in response to Prague City Hall’s decision to have a videomapping instead.

The Town Hall of
Prague 2 has given its patronage a January 1, 2020, fireworks show at
6 pm in the Bastion area, part of the former town walls near the
Nusle Bridge. The fireworks will be launched from near the Czech
Police Museum and the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and
St. Charles the Great (Kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie a sv. Karla
Velikého).

The show will be
called Divine Prague (Praha božská). Good viewing points will be
from in front of the Congress Center, the wall of Vyšehrad, Nusle,
and the Nusle Bridge (Nuselský most).

“We are sure that
most Prague citizens are bothered by the all-day, amateur firing of
pyrotechnics, which is mostly uncontrolled and is thus a great
psychological burden for small children and animals. In this regard,
we consider a 15-minute organized presentation of professional
fireworks to celebrate the New Year to be dignified in what is
inherently one of the European and world capitals,” Prague 2 Deputy
Mayor Jan Korseska said, according to website Miliju Praha, which
first reported the news.

The fireworks show
is also part of a campaign called Nebudu střílet (I Will Not
Shoot), aimed at limiting amateur use of fireworks.

“It is a helpful
step not only for all citizens of the metropolis who are sensitive to
excessive noise, but also for animals that face unnecessary stress
every year. I believe that everyone will enjoy the new form of New
Year celebrations, and I am glad that we unanimously agreed on it,”
Prague City Councilor Jan Chabr (United Force for Prague) said in
August.

City Hall spokesman Vít Hofman told daily Blesk that from a legal standpoint, nothing was preventing the fireworks show, and permission from City Hall was not required.