People gather on the Champs Elysees avenue during the New Year's Eve celebrations in Paris, France, December 31, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
New Year celebrations on the Champs Elysees in Paris
(New Yor, NY) — Some of the biggest outdoor New Years eve celebrations around the world are being called off over fears of terror attacks and uncontrollable crowds. In Paris, France: The famous live concert on the Champs-Élysées has been canceled. Police there say they were worried about “unpredictable crowds” and a heightened terror alert level. The city of lights will still shoot off fireworks at the the Arc de Triomphe, but the thousands who normally stand nearby will not be there this year.
Paris is just one of a long list of cities who say they don’t want large crowds gathering this year for New Years eve. In Tokyo, Japan, for the third year in a row the Shibuya Countdown Event has been canceled. City officials blame the cancellation on a growing problem with rowdy crowds. In Hong Kong, the traditional fireworks show over Victoria Harbor will not take place. The country is still mourning the loss of 160 people in the deadly Tai Po housing estate fire in late November.
In Sydney, Australia, a massive New Years party set to take place at Bondi Beach has been canceled following a terror attack there in December that killed 14 and injured 40. Two gunmen opened fire on a large crowd that were celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hannukah.
Here in the U.S., The FBI says it just foiled a New Year’s Eve bombing plot in Los Angeles. Four were arrested. Police say the men cuffed were part of a far left group called the Turtle Island Liberation Front. The FBI says they are a pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group. The had allegedly hatched a plan to plant pipe bombs at five companies with them all set to detonate simultaneously at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
The NYPD says New York’s annual ball drop is on for New Yeas eve with the normal heighted security that surrounds the huge event in midtown every year. Police say there are no threats against the biggest New Years celebration in the U.S. They expect hundreds of thousands to show up as they do every year.
