NEW YORK — A throng of 1 million revelers in Times Square rang in the New Year with raucous cheers and a blizzard of confetti, striking an optimistic, even defiant, tone amid jitters over extremist attacks and heavy security that included 6,000 police officers.
“You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced Times Square on New Year’s,” said Eric Robertson, 25, of Philadelphia, who kissed his girlfriend as the crowd counted down the seconds to the New Year and the ball dropped at the stroke of midnight.
Partygoers from around the world had waited hours at the famed Manhattan crossroads — some since before dawn — for the countdown. Mayor Bill de Blasio pushed the button to send a 11,875-pound Waterford crystal ball into its minute-long decent.
As the clock struck 12, cheers erupted as fireworks shot into the sky and people shared hugs and their first kisses of the year.
The revelers were protected by an unprecedented number of police officers — some in civilian clothes, many heavily armed — as well as rigid security screenings.
“This is the iconic New Year’s celebration for the world,” New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton said. “We have no threats we’re aware of directed against this event tonight but nevertheless we still plan for the worst and then expect the best.”
Officers from the NYPD’s elite emergency services unit surveyed the scene from Times Square rooftops, peering below through binoculars and scopes as snipers stood beside them. Heavily armed officers carrying tactical rifles stood on nearly every corner for blocks as police helicopters buzzed overhead after checking in on other parts of the city, including the World Trade Center and Statue of Liberty.
Some in the crowd admitted to being nervous to gather in such a famous location in the weeks after the Paris and San Bernardino attacks. Just hours earlier Thursday, an ex-con was charged in upstate New York with planning to carry out a New Year’s Eve attack at a bar to prove he was worthy of joining the Islamic State terror group. That case prompted the city to cancel its New Year’s Eve fireworks celebration.
Ashley Watters, 18, a freshman at Temple University from Gettysburg, Penn., called the threat of terrorism “the elephant in the room.”
“I talked to my dad before I left and said ‘I love you and hopefully ISIS doesn’t come,”’ said Watters. “My dad said, ‘Keep your eyes out.’ He feels the same way, you can’t live in fear. I’m not going to miss out on an opportunity.”
Others were heartened by the massive security presence for the party to send off 2015 that featured musical acts by Carrie Underwood, Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato and temperatures that, to the relief of the bundled-up spectators, stayed well above freezing.
Elsewhere in the world, New Year’s Eve celebrations rolled on as many people bid a weary and wary adieu to a year marred by attacks that left nations reeling and nerves rattled.
In Bangkok, site of a deadly bombing months ago, police flanked partygoers. In Paris, residents recovering from their city’s own deadly attacks enjoyed scaled-back celebrations. And in Munich, police warned of the threat of a terror attack.
A look at how people around the welcomed the new year:
FRANCE: The French are still recovering from the Nov. 13 attacks that left 130 people dead in Paris, and authorities prepared for a possible worst-case scenario on New Year’s Eve. About 60,000 police officers and troops were deployed across the country, and revelers said that made them feel safer.
French President Francois Hollande used his traditional New Year’s Eve speech to warn that the terrorist threat is still at its “highest level.”
“2015 has been a year of suffering and resistance,” he said. “Let’s make 2016 a year of courage and hope.”
Paris canceled its usual fireworks display in favor of a 5-minute video performance at the Arc de Triomphe just before midnight, relayed on screens along the Champs Elysee, where people chanted.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the show was aimed at “sending the world the message that Paris is standing, proud of its lifestyle and living together.”
ess than six months after a pipe bomb killed 20 people at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, tens of thousands of people rang in the new year at the intersection with live music and a countdown.
Up to 5,000 police officers were in the area, with explosive ordnance disposal experts sweeping the area ahead of time.
PHILIPPINES: Concern in the Philippines on New Year’s Eve focused on the use of illegal fireworks, which last year injured more than 850 people. Shopping malls and cities organized fireworks displays to discourage people from lighting their own firecrackers.
An annual procession of the Black Nazarene, a black wooden statue of Jesus Christ, was held a day earlier than usual Thursday to prevent injuries from mounds of trash and unexploded firecrackers that litter Manila’s streets after New Year’s revelries.
JAPAN: New Year’s Eve is Japan’s biggest holiday, and millions of people crammed into trains to flee the cities for their hometowns to slurp down bowls of noodles, symbolizing longevity, while watching the annual “Red and White” song competition on television. As midnight approached, families bundled up for visits to neighborhood temples, where the ritual ringing of huge bronze bells reverberated through the chill.
Tokyo was on special alert for security issues, with posters in subways and other public spaces warning people to keep their eyes open for suspicious packages or activities.
KOREAS: outh Koreans marked New Year’s Eve with traditional bell ringing ceremonies, fireworks and outdoor music and dance performances. One celebration was organized at a town near the border with rival North Korea to watch one of the ceremonies and wish for peaceful Korean unification.
VATICAN CITY: In the final hours of 2015, Pope Francis encouraged humanity to hang on to recollections of good deeds so that gestures of goodness can be seen triumphing over evil.
Francis presided over a year’s end prayer service Thursday evening in St. Peter’s Basilica, where he mused about how people are sometimes driven by “insatiable thirst for power and by gratuitous violence.” He said it was impossible to forget “so many days marked by violence, by death, by the unspeakable suffering of so many innocents.”
NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand, the first nation with a sizable population to celebrate the New Year, counted down the seconds to midnight with a giant digital clock on Auckland’s landmark Sky Tower. Horns blared and crowds cheered as the tower was lit up with fireworks, with colors shifting from green to red to white.
CHINA: An official New Year’s Eve celebration was staged near Beijing’s Forbidden City with performances and fireworks, and one of China’s most popular TV stations broadcast a gala from the National Stadium, known to most as the iconic Bird’s Nest.
For safety reasons, Shanghai closed subway stations near the scenic waterfront Bund, mindful of a stampede last New Year’s Eve that killed 36 people and blemished the image of China’s most prosperous metropolis.
GAZA STRIP: Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers banned New Year celebrations in the Palestinian coastal enclave. Police spokesman Ayman Batniji said hotels and restaurants were allowed to hold parties a day earlier or a day later.
“Celebrating the new year contradicts the instructions of Islamic religion,” Batniji said. “It’s a Western custom that we don’t accept in Gaza.”
KENYA: Police in Kenya, which has been repeatedly attacked by al-Shabaab militants from neighboring Somalia, urged vigilance as many people prepared to celebrate the new year in hotels and watch midnight fireworks displays. Unauthorized fireworks were banned as safety hazards “in view of the elevated threat of terrorism,” police said.
GERMANY: Rainy weather dampened the New Year celebrations in Berlin, where security was tighter than in previous years. Several hundred thousand people still turned out for several minutes of fireworks at the Brandenburg Gate, wishing each other “Froehes neues Jahr” and expressing their hopes for a peaceful 2016.
In Munich, police warned about an hour before the New Year of a “serious, imminent threat” of a terror attack. Despite the call by police for people to stay away from crowds, thousands of people were still on the streets to meet the new year with fireworks.
BRITAIN: Major celebrations marked by fireworks spectaculars were planned in London, Edinburgh and other big cities despite a terror threat judged to be severe. Police advised revelers not to go to the fireworks displays without tickets and to be ready to have their belongings searched.
