Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – Anyone caught with a knife in downtown Stuttgart this weekend may face a fine of at least 200 euros. If the new no-knife zone is not observed several times, up to 10,000 euros may be due. The police and municipal security service may confiscate a knife with a fixed or lockable blade that is more than four centimeters in length. So far, only carrying knives with a blade length of more than twelve centimeters was prohibited. The ban, which is limited to the city ring road and the city garden, is intended to increase the feeling of security in the state capital. It applies on Fridays and Saturdays as well as on the days before public holidays from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Stuttgart is the first city in the south-west to have a knife ban, and a number of cities such as Hamburg and Cologne are already using the instrument nationwide.
