Beyond New York

The New Year was received with cheers by the tens of thousands of people who gathered in Times Square, in New York, under a shower of confetti, kisses and hugs after the descent of the colorful sphere that marks the beginning of 2024 hopeful for some, even though the wars took the shine off some celebrations and raised concerns about security around the planet.

“It’s beautiful,” said Corin Christian of Charlotte, North Carolina, seconds after midnight, as Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” played over the speakers.

“So far it’s going very well,” said Jacob Eriksson, who arrived from Salt Lake City, Utah, in an early evaluation of the newly released 2024.

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The arrival of midnight gave way to the new year in the different time zones. In Australia, more than 1 million people watched a fireworks display centered on the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge — the equivalent of one in five city residents — while there were still 16 hours until New York opens in 2024.

Images of happiness followed one another in the different countries while the new year was received with the optimism that its days would leave more joy than sorrow.

A small army of thousands of police officers worked to maintain security in New York City, as had happened with reinforced security operations in other large cities before. In New York there have been almost daily protests against the war between Israel and Hamas.

Some 90,000 police and security agents were mobilized across France, including on the Champs-Élysées avenue, where a large crowd witnessed a multidimensional light show projected on the Arc de Triomphe that showed the history of Paris and anticipated the Games. Olympic Games that will be held in the summer in the French capital.

Although there were concerts throughout the United States on Sunday night, CNN host Anderson Cooper closed a tribute to the artists who died in 2023 by acknowledging that the jovial New Year’s Eve program he presented with Andy Cohen could also be a sad occasion for some spectators.

“There are a lot of people who feel like they can’t celebrate it,” he said in the last minute of a year that claimed the lives of Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, Sinéad O’Connor, Jimmy Buffett, Burt Bacharach or David Crosby, among others.

FIREWORKS LIGHT UP THE NIGHT

Stunning pyrotechnic displays illuminated iconic sites such as the Acropolis in Athens, were reflected in the glass walls of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, in the United Arab Emirates, and were greeted with collective cheers in Nairobi , Kenya.

China celebrated relatively quietly: most of the country’s large cities banned the use of fireworks due to concerns about safety and environmental pollution. Despite this, people gathered and performers danced in colorful costumes in Beijing, while in Chongqing a crowd released balloons with wishes. During his New Year message, President Xi Jinping said the country will focus on building momentum for an economic recovery in 2024 and pledged that China “will, without a doubt, reunify” with Taiwan.

Temple bells rang across Japan as people flocked to shrines and temples. At Tsukiji in Tokyo, visitors received free hot milk and corn soup while they lined up to ring a large bell.

Under a light drizzle, some two million people gathered on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro to watch a 12-minute fireworks display in one of the most popular places in the world to spend the night. New Years Eve.

THE POPE UNDERLINES THE HUMAN COST OF WAR

At the Vatican, Pope Francis remembered 2023 as a year marked by suffering due to wars. During his traditional Sunday blessing from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, he offered prayers for “the tormented Ukrainian people and the Palestinian and Israeli populations, the Sudanese people and many others.”

“At the end of the year, we will have the courage to ask ourselves how many human lives have been destroyed by armed conflicts, how many deaths and how much destruction, how much suffering, how much poverty,” declared the Argentine pontiff .

THE WARS IN GAZA AND UKRAINE ARE INTENSIVE

In Russia, the country’s military actions in Ukraine have overshadowed the New Year celebrations. The traditional fireworks and concert in Moscow’s Red Square were cancelled, just as happened last year. Even without the official celebrations, people gathered in the square and some cheered and pointed their phones in the direction of the clock counting down the last seconds of the year.

After a shell attack on the Russian border town of Belgorod killed 24 people on Saturday, some local authorities across Russia canceled fireworks displays, including in the city of Vladivostok. It is estimated that millions of people watched President Vladimir Putin’s pre-recorded New Year’s message, in which he stated that no force could divide Russians or stop the country’s development.

Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip killed at least 35 people on Sunday, according to hospital authorities, as fighting raged in the small territory a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resisted to international calls for a ceasefire, said the war would continue “for many more months.”

In Tel Aviv, skyscrapers were illuminated yellow to call for the release of the hostages who have been held by Palestinian insurgents in the enclave for more than 80 days.

“While you count down to the New Year, our life and our time have stopped,” said Moran Betzer Tayar, aunt of Yaguev Buchshtab, a 34-year-old hostage.

In Gaza, displaced Palestinians huddled around campfires in a makeshift refugee camp.

“Due to the intensity of the pain we live in, we don’t feel like there is a New Year,” said Kamal al-Zenaty, who has lost several family members in the conflict. “Every day is the same.”

In Iraq, a Christmas tree was decorated with Palestinian flags and symbolic shrouded corpses were placed next to a freedom monument in central Baghdad. Many Christians in the country have canceled festivities in solidarity with Gaza and limited them to prayers and rituals.

“We hope that the new year, 2024, will be a year of goodness, prosperity and joy,” said Baghdad resident Ahmed Ali.

In Muslim-majority Pakistan, the government banned all New Year’s Eve celebrations in solidarity with the Palestinians.

GLOBAL TENSIONS INCREASE SURVEILLANCE

In New York, Mayor Eric Adams explained that there were no “specific threats” to the annual celebration in Times Square. Still, police said they would expand the security perimeter around the party, creating a “safety zone” that would allow them to block potential demonstrations. Last New Year’s Eve, a man armed with a machete attacked three police officers a few blocks from the plaza.

The Las Vegas Strip was closed to vehicle traffic and a heavy police operation was deployed, with armed officers stationed along the iconic avenue, while thousands of revelers gathered in the area and street musicians played before midnight, when fireworks were launched simultaneously from several casinos. The city said it expected more than 400,000 people to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

2024-01-01 12:53:00
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