Nablus police make new arrests in crackdown on fireworks

Palestinian police in the northern West Bank city of Nablus arrested 18 people suspected of selling or launching fireworks during social events Friday. A police statement said five people were hospitalized recently as a result of fireworks, including two who lost fingers. An accident involving fireworks injured 28 people, including four seriously, in mid-July at a wedding hall in Ramallah. Fireworks are routinely used in religious and social celebrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As a response, police seized more than 200 cartons of fireworks in Ramallah and the Al-Bireh governorate during a campaign to crack down on the explosives. Police in Bethlehem also said they would clamp down on the sale and distribution of fireworks. Police said they would seek to imprison anyone caught trading fireworks for two years and will impose a fine of 200 Jordanian dinars, upon an executive order from the president. Police said at the time they were undertaking a number of awareness programs to teach people about the danger of fireworks, including workshops in schools and radio shows.