Paris scales back New Year celebrations after November attacks

Authorities in Paris have cancelled

the New Year’s fireworks display on
the Champs-Elysées, opting instead
for a video show, as the French
capital prepares to mark the event in
an “atmosphere of sobriety”
following the November 13 attacks.
Security has been tightened across
Paris with around 11,000 soldiers,
police and emergency workers --
2,000 more than last year -- to be
deployed during subdued
celebrations, according to a
statement released by the Paris
mayor’s office.
"We have decided to mark the New
Year in an atmosphere of sobriety
and togetherness," Mayor Anne
Hidalgo said on an official city
website.
Following a deadly year that began
with the January 7 “ Charlie Hebdo
attacks ” and wound down with the
November 13 attacks -- which killed
130 people -- city authorities were
initially torn over whether to scrap
the “Réveillon,” as the French call
December 31.
In the end, city officials decided to
go ahead with scaled-back
commemorations.
Sobriety on the world’s 'most
beautiful' avenue
Fireworks are not a traditional part of
the celebrations in Paris, but over the
past few years, hundreds of
thousands have gathered on the
magnificent Champs-Elysées
thoroughfare to watch a fireworks
display.
Instead of a fireworks show, this
year’s New Year festivities will
feature a sound-and-light show at the
Arc de Triomphe, which will start at
11:50pm and will be cut to ten
minutes, as opposed to last year’s
20. The main objective is to avoid
large crowds gathering for too long.
Large screens will transmit the
spectacle, and while the Champs-
Elysées will be closed to car traffic
as usual, circulation will be restored
sooner than in previous years.
“Tourists and residents alike will as
usual be able to meet on what we
know as the most beautiful avenue in
the world, but this year, sobriety is
here. There won't be a big show, and
the fireworks are cancelled," the site
said.
The sale and use of fireworks in the
Paris region will be banned for the
night, police said, as well as
takeaway alcoholic drinks and any
drinks in glass bottles.
‘Vigilance should not stop the
celebrations’
France has been on a heightened
security alert since the January 7
attacks and following the November
13 assaults, the country is under an
unprecedented state of emergency.
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves
Le Drian said security has been
furthered tightened across the
country for the December 31
celebrations. “Everything is being
done for France's New Year's
celebrations to go well. But we have
to stay extremely vigilant. The threats
are still there, there are still risks,”
said Le Drian. “I think that never
before have we had such extensive
measures in place to protect the
French people, be it from the police,
the gendarmerie, and the military who
are putting these security measures
in place.”
Speaking to reporters days before the
year-end celebrations, Le Drian noted
that the deployment of security
personnel across the country was
already bigger than any French
deployments abroad.
"It's bigger than in Mali, bigger than
in the Central African Republic,
bigger than in the Middle East, but
it's the same fight, it’s the same
enemy. It is at home as well as
abroad," he said.
"We have to be very vigilant, but that
vigilance should not stop the
celebrations."
Tight security from Austria to Russia
Amid increasing Islamic State (IS)
group threats across the world,
security has been a prime concern
for authorities in the Middle East,
Asia and Europe.
In Belgium, the traditional fireworks
display in Brussels has been
canceled due to security fears .
In Russia, Moscow's Red Square,
traditionally a place where people
gather to ring in the New Year, will
be closed to revellers on December
31 while the Austrian capital of
Vienna has also beefed up security
ahead of the celebrations.
In Turkey, meanwhile, officials said
two suspected IS group militants
were planning to stage suicide
bombings in the centre of the capital
Ankara, which is expected to be
packed with revellers on the night of
December 31. The two suspects were
arrested Tuesday.
Turkey has been on a high security
alert since October, when two suicide
bombers blew themselves up in a
crowd of peace activists in Ankara,
killing 103 people in the worst attack
in the country's modern history.