London New Year’s Celebration Venue Undisclosed… Cancellation of fireworks in Paris, Rome, etc.
Closing Kremlin Square to prevent crowds… Dubai is a gorgeous Song Gu-Young-Shin
As major European cities were besieged by the Omicron mutation, the experience of welcoming the New Year with excitement while watching the colorful fireworks in the crowd was postponed by a year.
They canceled New Year’s celebrations or even closed the square to prevent people from gathering.
Some places even banned the sale of firecrackers.
In the UK on the 31st (local time), the fireworks display with London’s famous Ferris wheel ‘London Eye’ in the background and the party with 6,500 people attending at Trafalgar Square were all canceled.
A fence was put up around Trafalgar Square to control entry.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan had a great event planned, but did not reveal the venue, saying it would be safe to enjoy on TV.
The Hogmany Festival, a representative event in Edinburgh, Scotland, has never happened before.
A procession of Vikings with wooden boats at the forefront prevented the spectacle of thousands following with torches.
Still, Big Ben, which has been under repair since 2017, rang the bell to announce the new year for the first time in three and a half years.
The Champs Elysees in France is also quiet.
The city of Paris planned to hold a concert in front of the Arc de Triomphe on the afternoon of the 31st and end with a fireworks display with a countdown, but the event was canceled due to the rapid spread of the virus.
However, night travel is permitted, and restaurants, cafes and bars will be allowed to remain open until 2 am this year.
However, you cannot drink alcohol or hold large gatherings on the street.
Famous clubs in Paris turned to private parties that only accept reservations to celebrate the New Year.
In Paris and Lyon, major cities, starting today, have made it compulsory to wear an outdoor mask again.
In Italy, all New Year celebrations planned in major cities such as Rome, Milan, Florence and Naples have been canceled.
This is because the government has banned any outdoor festivals or events until January 31 next year.
In Berlin, Germany, a ban on fireworks has been imposed in 56 major districts, and the sale of firecrackers has also been banned.
There was even information about a surprise demonstration protesting the quarantine measures, so the police and firefighters went into emergency work just in case.
Celebrations around the Brandenburg Gate, famous for New Year’s ceremonies with hundreds of thousands of people before the pandemic, were banned, and police installed a fence in the area to prevent crowds.
Austria’s world-class orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, has reduced the audience to 1,000 for its New Year’s concert conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
This is a measure so that you can enjoy the performance without completing the booster shot (additional inoculation).
The Austrian government has made it mandatory for events with more than 1,000 people to require a booster shot certificate in addition to a certificate of vaccination and a negative PCR result.
The Moscow city of Russia went ahead with the New Year’s fireworks display as scheduled.
At 0 o’clock in the new year, about 30,000 fireworks were fired from 10 regions.
However, from this afternoon, the Red Square in front of the Kremlin has been closed.
In addition, Russian health authorities have ordered not to hold year-end celebrations in closed places and to strengthen supervision of quarantine measures such as wearing masks on public transport.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is different from Western European countries.
At the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building in Dubai, a spectacular fireworks display and light show under the theme of ‘The Wonder of Eve’ was held.
At the 7-star Hotel Burj Al Arab, fireworks lit the night sky for 8 minutes with the start of the new year.
In addition, fireworks and drone shows were held at Blue Waters Island, Dubai Festival City Mall, and Al Seef, a shopping complex.
There is no official event in Istanbul, Turkey, which is an Islamic country, but for those who enjoy gatherings late, public transportation on New Year’s Eve has been increased and operated free of charge.
However, Turkey’s Interior Ministry has deployed 340,000 security forces, including police, military police, and coast guard, across the country in preparation for the terrorist attacks aimed at the New Year’s celebrations.
(Correspondent Yoo Cheol-jong in Moscow, Sang-hoon Kim in Cairo, Yun-jeong Choi in London, Kim Jong-un in Brussels, Seung-wook Kim in Istanbul, Seong-hoon Jeon in Rome, Hye-ran Hyun in Paris)
/yunhap news
