Tet is coming, but I'm worried about... fireworks!

Alarming incidents

In just a short period of less than 2 months before the Lunar New Year 2021, in Nghe An, there have been a series of violations of the law on trading, transporting, storing and using firecrackers involving students. Typically, on the evening of January 28, public opinion was shocked by the news of 3 high school students arbitrarily making and using firecrackers, causing an accident that injured all 3.

Specifically, a group of 2 students from class 10A1, Mai Hac De High School and 1 student from Nam Dan 2 High School (Nam Dan) went to a friend's house in Lam Son block, Nam Dan town to play. Here, the students took out firecrackers to light. After a loud explosion, neighbors ran over and discovered that all 3 students were injured, covered in blood, one of them was seriously injured. The students were quickly taken to the district hospital for emergency treatment by local people, then transferred to the provincial hospital.

L.VG (15 years old) in Que Phong district had his hand blown off by a homemade firecracker. Photo: PV

Not only violating the use of firecrackers, many students participated in buying, selling, transporting firecrackers, even buying explosives to make firecrackers themselves. For example, on December 26, Hung Nguyen District Police imposed an administrative fine of 7.5 million VND on Nguyen Vu D. (13 years old); Nguyen Duy T. (13 years old) and Nguyen Xuan H. (16 years old), all residing in Chau Nhan Commune (Hung Nguyen) for storing and using firecrackers.

Previously, on December 23, 2020, these 3 students were discovered by Hung Nguyen District Police and Chau Nhan Commune Police carrying 3 self-winding firecrackers, cylindrical in shape, 3 cm long and 1.5 cm in diameter. Based on the statements of D. and T., the police inspected Nguyen Xuan H.'s house and discovered a plastic box containing 200 grams of firecrackers. D. and T. bought the above firecrackers from H. to make fireworks.

Similarly, in Vinh City, at around 9:00 p.m. on December 2, 2020, in Hung Loc Commune, the Traffic Police Team (Vinh City Police) discovered a group of young people gathering with suspicious signs. Seeing the Traffic Police, the group of young people frantically ran away, however, the Traffic Police were able to detain two students, Tran Trung Ngh. and Nguyen Tien D., both born in 2005, residing in Hung Loc Commune (Vinh City). A quick inspection found that these two students were transporting two sacks containing 40 cylinders with a diameter of 7cm, a length of 20cm, and a weight of 28kg. After examination, it was found that the evidence was self-rolling firecrackers.

At the police station, Ngh. and D. confessed that their friends rolled the firecrackers themselves to sell. On the way, they used a motorbike to transport the firecrackers to the Nghe An Social Labor Education Center 1 to wait for buyers when they were discovered by the police.

Two students in Vinh City were arrested by authorities for making fireworks to sell. Photo courtesy of Duc Vu

Ngh. and D. are currently students in Vinh City. The Traffic Police Department of Vinh City Police said that this group of teenagers consisted of 6 people riding motorbikes and electric bicycles, however, when the Traffic Police conducted an inspection, 4 people ran away. The case has been transferred to the Economic Police Department (Vinh City Police) for further investigation and handling.

In December 2020 alone, the authorities in the province discovered and arrested 240 cases, 280 subjects violating economic and environmental laws, confiscating 225 kg of explosives and 865 kg of firecrackers. In Quynh Luu district alone, there were 4 subjects illegally storing and transporting firecrackers with 250 kg discovered and confiscated. In some areas such as Vinh City, Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc, Nam Dan..., there were subjects violating regulations on firecracker prevention and control who were of school age.

Promote education and propaganda

Faced with the complicated violations of the law on storing, trading and using firecrackers, especially those involving students, agencies, departments, branches and functional forces have taken many measures to prevent and gradually push back this situation. In addition to the detection, arrest and handling by the police and customs forces, an important solution must include the work of propaganda and legal education.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Thieu - Head of the Department of Legal Education and Dissemination (Department of Justice) said: From the beginning of 2021, the Department has advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Official Dispatch No. 90 dated January 22, 2021 to departments, branches, People's Committees of districts, cities and towns on promoting propaganda and legal education in preventing and combating all types of crimes before, during and after the Lunar New Year, focusing on the content of preventing and combating violations related to fireworks. Accordingly, the Department of Justice of districts, cities and towns has coordinated with departments, branches, organizations and localities to organize many practical forms of propaganda, targeting specific subjects and those at high risk of violations.

Agencies and units in Yen Son commune (Do Luong) organize propaganda for students about the legal regulations on fireworks. Photo: HT

Together with the Department of Justice, the Provincial Youth Union has also strengthened the direction of Youth Union chapters at all levels to coordinate with local police departments to promote propaganda work among students, youth and adolescents. Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh - Head of the Provincial Youth Union's Propaganda Department said that by the end of January 2021, most District and Town Youth Unions had basically carried out local activities well according to Official Dispatch No. 2771-CV/TĐTN-TG of the Provincial Youth Union on propaganda and public opinion orientation on the occasion of Lunar New Year 2021.

Talking about the effects of the talks and propaganda sessions coordinated by the Youth Union, Ly Ba Tua, a student at Ky Son High School, said that after attending the outdoor activities organized by Ky Son District Youth Union in coordination with the school and relevant agencies with the theme of understanding the law on preventing and combating child marriage, combating violations of the law on firecrackers... with vivid real-life examples, he understood more about what to avoid in order not to violate the law. He himself will do well and propagate to relatives and friends not to violate the law in general, and on preventing and combating firecrackers in particular.

"Nghe An has 90 high schools, 22 continuing education centers with nearly 90,000 students (if counting all 3 levels of education, the whole province has nearly 900,000 students). Therefore, propaganda and education to help students build awareness of self-compliance with legal regulations, protect themselves, avoid violations and unfortunate accidents related to firecrackers is a regular task and in fact, the department has continuously issued many official dispatches directing educational institutions to focus on this content" -Mr. Nguyen Trong Be - Head of Political and Ideological Department, Department of Education and Training said.

Right from the beginning of the new school year, the department issued Official Dispatch No. 1780/SGD&DT-CTTT dated September 8, 2020 on implementing solutions to prevent and combat violations related to fireworks before, during and after the 2021 Lunar New Year. Then, in December 2020, the department also issued 2 official dispatches with similar content. “At the secondary education conference on January 26, 2021, the department's leaders directly informed the school leaders to strengthen solutions and increase coordination with agencies and units to propagate students not to violate regulations on fireworks, especially for secondary school students. Teachers teaching the last classes of the session are required to spend 3-5 minutes reminding students about self-protection measures, and not to violate the provisions of the law, especially on fireworks" - said Mr. Nguyen Trong Be.

Many localities, departments, branches and functional forces organize propaganda and education on laws against violations of firecrackers for students. Photo: HT

Emphasizing the importance of propaganda and legal education, at the Internal Affairs Bloc's meeting in the months before the Lunar New Year 2021, comrade Nguyen Van Thong - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee requested functional forces such as: Provincial Police, Market Management Department, Customs, Border Guard... to strengthen inspection, control and detection, strictly handle violations, especially cases and subjects violating regulations on storage, use, transportation and trading of firecrackers. At the same time, strengthen education and propaganda work widely among the people about the State's legal policies in this field. Especially at the time when Decree 137/2020/ND-CP of the Government on regulations on the use and management of non-explosive fireworks during holidays and Tet takes effect from January 11, 2021.