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During last year’s New Year’s Eve party, a machete-wielding man attacked three police officers a few blocks from Times Square.
Security will also be heightened across European cities on Sunday.
In France, 90,000 law enforcement officers are set to be deployed, Céline Berthon, the domestic intelligence chief, said on Friday. Of those, 6,000 will be in Paris, where Gerald Darmanin, the French Interior Minister, said over 1.5 million people are expected to attend celebrations on the Champs-Élysées.
Mr Darmanin cited a “very high terrorist threat” because, in part, of “what is happening in Israel and Palestine,” referring to the Israel-Hamas war.
Mr Darmanin said that police for the first time will be able to use drones as part of security work and that tens of thousands of firefighters and 5,000 soldiers would also be deployed.
New Year’s Eve celebrations in the French capital will centre on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, including DJ sets, fireworks and video projections on the Arc de Triomphe, highlighting “changes in the city and faces of the Games”, according to the press service of the City of Paris. Other planned events include “the largest Mexican wave ever performed” and a “giant karaoke”.
Moscow display cancelled
The security challenge ahead of the Olympics was highlighted when a tourist was killed in a knife attack near the Eiffel Tower on December 2. Large-scale attacks – such as that at the Bataclan in 2015, when Islamic extremists invaded the music hall and shot up cafe terraces, killing 130 people – also loom large.
In Berlin, some 4,500 police officers are expected to keep order and avoid riots like a year ago. Police in the German capital issued a ban on the traditional use of fire crackers for several streets across the city. They also banned a pro-Palestinian protest in the Neukoelln neighbourhood of the city, which has seen several pro-Palestinian riots since the October 7 attack by Hamas.
In Russia, the country’s military actions in Ukraine have overshadowed end-of-year celebrations, with the usual fireworks and concert on Moscow’s Red Square cancelled, the same as last year.
After shelling in the centre of the Russian border city of Belgorod on Saturday killed 24 people, some local authorities across Russia also cancelled their usual firework displays, including in Vladivostok. Millions throughout Russia are expected to tune into Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s address.
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