‘Pandemonium’ as Britons flee Dubai’s New Year’s Eve skyscraper inferno
A fire engulfed The Address Hotel in downtown Dubai in the United Arab Emirates hours before a large New Year fireworks display was set to start nearby from the Burj Khalifa tower, the world’s largest building, witnesses said. After Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, the chimes of midnight will finally move across the Americas. Annual festivities and fireworks in Brussels were cancelled as the Belgian capital – home to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the European Union – remains on high alert.
But authorities agreed France’s biggest public gathering since the attacks can go ahead on the famous boulevard, with bolstered security.
“We believe that this is an event that needs to be in the calendar for festivals and events in the city from now on.”
On Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach, crowds will not only mark the New Year – they will also fete the 100th anniversary of Samba music, and the upcoming summer Olympics.
The capital is tense, but that does not mean people won’t come together to ring in the new year.
The Met confirmed New Year’s Eve was one of two events, along with Notting Hill Carnival, in which there was no holiday entitlement, meaning all available staff were called upon. Meanwhile, in Moscow police will for the first time close off Red Square where tens of thousands of revellers traditionally gather.
Revellers in central London during the New Year celebrations.
Metropolitan Police spokeswoman Superintendent Jo Edwards said: “We’re mindful of what’s going on in other cities and across the world, we’re linked into the intelligence services, but there is no specific intelligence about the event in London tonight”.
Fireworks were banned in towns and cities across Italy, in some cases because of a recent spike in air pollution but also because of fears that, in the current climate, sudden loud bangs could cause crowds to panic.
Australian officials, struggling to contain the threat from home-grown extremists, encouraged revellers to enjoy the evening and assured them that thousands of extra police were patrolling major cities.
More than a million people lined the streets to watch what some described as “the best fireworks in the world”. Egypt has been in turmoil since the 2011 uprising but was further hit by the October 31 crash of a Russian airliner over the Sinai killing 224 people.
Over in Sierra Leone, the declared end of Ebola will mark a return to festivities, after Freetown, the capital, was left deserted a year ago due to the disease’s outbreak. Police spokesman Ayman al-Batinji told AFP such celebrations were “incompatible with our customs, traditions, values and the teachings of our religion”.
For security reasons, Shanghai closed underground stations near the scenic waterfront Bund because of a stampede last New Year’s Eve that killed 36 people and blemished the image of China’s most prosperous and modern metropolis.
Security is a big concern in many cities around the world this New Year’s Eve.