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Fireworks only for television:
the ZDF show in front of the Brandenburg Gate took place without an audience
Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa
Shortly after one o'clock in the morning, the final certainty came for many: There will be no fireworks at the Brandenburg Gate this year either. Although this had previously been widely discussed in the media and announced by the city, according to the Berlin police, "several thousand" people had gathered on the boulevard "Unter den Linden" and were obviously waiting for the show. Only the planned ZDF live broadcast was allowed to take place in front of the Berlin landmark, but no viewers were allowed here. The police eventually broke up the onlookers' gathering one by one.
It was deployed in the capital with a large contingent of 2,500 workers who also had the focal points in view. In many other cities in Germany, the streets looked empty due to the Corona restrictions. Nevertheless, despite the renewed general ban on the sale of fireworks, firecrackers could be heard in many places and colorful rockets could be seen in the sky. There were numerous fireworks accidents with injuries, sometimes even fatalities.
The big New Year's party in London was also canceled due to Corona. In Paris, the traditionally magnificent fireworks on the triumphal arch failed again. Instead, a ban on alcohol and a mask requirement in public came into force on New Year's Eve. Nevertheless, a large crowd had gathered on the Champs-Élysées that evening, some of them tightly packed. Some Parisians even detonated rockets, although the sale of fireworks had been banned almost everywhere in France.
In Spain, however, the most traditional party in the country could take place again in Madrid.
Despite the rapidly increasing number of corona infections, around 7,000 people welcomed the New Year in crowded places on the Puerta del Sol square and with the hustle and bustle.
Because of the pandemic, the number of participants allowed was reduced by around 60 percent.
Otherwise there were no noteworthy restrictions.
"Big restrictions don't do anything," said Madrid's regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso again recently.
The situation in the hospitals is totally under control.
That's what they'd like to say about themselves in New York.
Here, however, the number of infections and hospital admissions are currently at a record level.
Nevertheless, New York's Times Square welcomed the year 2022 again with an audience at 6 a.m. German time.
At midnight, a shining crystal ball traditionally slid down a flagpole and heralded the new year to the cheering of thousands - the so-called »ball drop«.
The event on the world-famous square in Manhattan was limited to about a quarter of its normal capacity this year, after only a few invited guests were allowed to participate last year.
Everyone present had to be fully vaccinated.
It was raining confetti and the song "New York, New York" echoed through the streets.
Usually around a million people flock to Times Square each year, and the party is one of the biggest New Year's Eve celebrations in the world.
The major event has its origins in the opening of a new publishing house for the New York Times in 1904 - the newspaper celebrated this with a New Year's Eve fireworks display.
Even in Sydney, Australia - unlike last year - tens of thousands of spectators were allowed to watch the fireworks against the backdrop of the opera house.
Interested parties had to buy a ticket in advance for one of around 30 viewpoints.
In the state of New South Wales, in which Sydney is located, the corona numbers are exploding due to the spread of the omicron variant.
In China, several cities have canceled fireworks and major festivities, including Beijing and Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus broke out in late 2019.
However, New Year's Eve is not a particularly important holiday for the Chinese either - according to their traditional lunar calendar, the new year doesn't start until the beginning of February this time.
sbo / dpa
