New Zealand welcomes 2024 with fireworks
(Video: Reuters)
At noon on Sunday, the world began to welcome the New Year with fireworks, saying goodbye to 2023 - the hottest year in history and whose last months were overshadowed by the war in Gaza. Following the war, many countries decided to increase at their main New Year's celebrations, fearing attacks and violent demonstrations.
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As every year, the earliest to celebrate were the inhabitants of the island countries in the Pacific Ocean. The first country to welcome the New Year was Kiribati. An hour later, 2024 also arrived in New Zealand - the first large country to count down. At the same time, they also counted down on the islands of Tonga and Samoa. At 3 p.m. Israel time, Australia celebrated the start New Year.
In Auckland, New Zealand, revelers gathered around the Sky Tower, the country's tallest skyscraper, to watch the New Year's fireworks display. In Australia, authorities estimated that more than a million people would come to the traditional show on the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and an unusual amount of police was sent to secure the event. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been held in the area in recent weeks after the nearby Sydney Opera House was lit up in the colors of the Israeli flag.
In the afternoon, the celebrations reached China, the Philippines, Thailand and North Korea. The year 2024 will arrive in Iran at 10:30 p.m., and half an hour later Moscow will welcome the arrival of 2024. An hour after the New Year arrives in Israel, France, Germany and Italy will also count down, and fireworks displays will begin in major European cities.
French officials also decided to increase security at the main celebrations, and 90,000 policemen will patrol the streets, 6,000 of them in Paris. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin claimed that more than one and a half million people will come to the celebrations at the Arc de Triomphe. He noted that "the threat of terrorism is very high," partly "because of what is happening in Israel and Palestine." He added that the police will use drones and that tens of thousands of firefighters and 5,000 soldiers will assist them.
On Monday at 7:00 a.m. Israel time, crowds of revelers will welcome the New Year at Times Square in New York City. Mayor Eric Adams said there were no specific alerts, but police said they would increase forces in the area of the festivities and set up a "buffer zone" to allow officers to deal with rioters. During last year's festivities, a man attacked three police officers with a machete, a few blocks from Times Square.
The last to welcome the New Year will be the residents of American Samoa, where it will only start on Monday at noon in Israel.
As every year, local shamans gathered in Lima, the capital of Peru, for a traditional ceremony aimed at predicting what will happen in the world in the New Year. They have predicted that US President Joe Biden will win the presidential election in November 2024, and that the war in Gaza will come to an end in the middle of the year. "Israel and Palestine will raise the flag of peace," they declared.