New Year's Eve celebrations take place across Asia, but wars cast a shadow over 2024
Representative image | (PTI photo)
Revelers across Asia marked the countdown to midnight on New Year's Eve with fireworks and brightly lit signs that for some offered a hopeful start to 2024, even as the world's ongoing conflicts raised security concerns and left the festivities muted or even canceled.
As the clock struck midnight in Australia, more than 1 million people, equivalent to one in five of the city's residents, watched from the coast and from boats in the harbor as a 12-minute fireworks display focused on the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
It's total madness, said German tourist Janna Thomas, who had been waiting in line since 7.30am to get a prime waterfront spot at the Sydney Botanic Garden.
Organizers around the world have prepared for large-scale celebrations despite the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine. In New York City, where protests take place almost daily due to the war between Israel and Hamas, officials and party organizers said they were prepared to guarantee the safety of tens of thousands of partygoers who will flood Times Square in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. .
Fireworks exploded up and down the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, as the clock struck midnight in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
China celebrated relatively quietly, with most major cities banning fireworks over safety and pollution concerns. Still, people gathered and performers in colorful costumes danced in Beijing, while crowds released wish balloons in Chongqing. During his New Year's speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the country would focus on building momentum for economic recovery in 2024 and pledged that China would definitely reunite with Taiwan.
In Taipei, Taiwan's capital, the mood seemed high as revelers gathered for a fireworks show at the bamboo-shaped Taipei 101 skyscraper, as well as concerts and other events held throughout the city.
In India, thousands of revelers flocked from Mumbai's financial center to a busy promenade to watch the sun set over the Arabian Sea. In New Delhi, fireworks ensured that the capital, already notorious for poor air quality, would be blanketed in a toxic haze on the first morning of the new year.
Throughout Japan, temple bells rang as people gathered at shrines and temples. At Tokyo's Tsukiji Temple, visitors were given free hot milk and corn soup as they queued to ring a large bell, and a pipe organ concert was held in front of a majestic altar.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis recalled 2023 as a year marked by wartime suffering. During his traditional Sunday blessing, from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square, he offered prayers for the anguished Ukrainian people and the Palestinian and Israeli people, the Sudanese people and many others.
At the end of the year, we will have the courage to ask ourselves how many lives have been destroyed by armed conflict, how many deaths and how much destruction, how much suffering and how much poverty, the Pope said.
In Russia, the country's military actions in Ukraine have overshadowed end-of-year celebrations, with the usual fireworks and concert in Moscow's Red Square canceled as they were last year.
After shelling in the center of the Russian border city of Belgorod killed 24 people on Saturday, some local authorities across Russia also canceled their usual fireworks shows, including in Vladivostok. Millions of people across Russia are said to have tuned in to Russian President Vladimir Putin's pre-recorded New Year's speech in which he claimed there was no force that could divide Russians and stop the country's development.
Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip killed at least 35 people on Sunday, hospital officials said, as fighting raged in the small enclave a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war would continue for many months, citing resisted international calls for a ceasefire. .
In Muslim-majority Pakistan, the government has banned all New Year's Eve celebrations in solidarity with Palestinians.
In Iraq, a Christmas tree decorated with Palestinian flags and symbolic bodies in shrouds was placed next to a freedom monument in central Baghdad. Many Christians in Iraq have canceled this year's festivities in solidarity with Gaza, choosing to limit their celebrations to prayers and rituals.
We hope that the new year, 2024, will be a year of goodness, prosperity and joy, said Ahmed Ali, a resident of Baghdad.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said there are no specific threats to his city's annual New Year's Eve event. Police said they would expand the security perimeter around the party and create a buffer zone that would allow them to prevent potential demonstrations. During last year's party, a man with a machete attacked three police officers a few blocks from Times Square.
Security was also increased in European cities on Sunday.
German authorities said they had arrested three more people in connection with a reported threat of a New Year's Eve attack by Islamic extremists on the world-famous Cologne Cathedral.
In Berlin, around 4,500 police officers are expected to be deployed to maintain order and prevent riots, just like a year ago. Police in the German capital have imposed a ban on the traditional use of fireworks on several streets in the city. They also banned a pro-Palestinian protest in the city's Neukoelln district, where several pro-Palestinian riots have taken place.
In Paris, more than 1.5 million people are expected to attend celebrations on the Champs-Elysées, while about 90,000 law enforcement officers will be deployed across the country, top officials said. Celebrations in the French capital will focus on the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, including DJ sets, fireworks and video projections on the Arc de Triomphe.
In a New Year's message, French President Emmanuel Macron predicted that the 2024 European Parliament elections will be crucial for Ukraine's future and the fate of democracy across Europe.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: January 1, 2024 | 6:54 am IST