Australia was the first to receive New Year 2023 without restrictions after two years due to Covid, while the world continues to say goodbye to 2022, a year marked by the war in Ukraine, economic tensions and the effects of global warming.
Subsequently, in all Asia, from China to the Philippines and Thailandpeople celebrated the arrival of the new year.
Sydney, one of the first major cities in the world to welcome 2023, did so with a dazzling fireworks display, featuring a rainbow cascade for the first time ever. famous Harbor Bridge.
“This New Year’s Eve we say Sydney is back as we kick off the festivities around the world and bring in the New Year with a bang,” said Clover Moore, the city’s mayor, before the events.
Lockdowns in late 2020 and a rise in omicron cases in late 2021 led to crowd restrictions and reduced festivities in Australia. However, restrictions on the celebrations were lifted this year after Australia, like many countries around the world, reopen its borders and remove social distancing limitations.
In Chinastrict Covid restrictions were lifted just this month in the government’s rollback of its “zero-Covid” policy, a change that has led to a surge in infections and meant some people They weren’t in the mood to celebrate.
“This virus should just go and die, I can’t believe that this year I can’t even find a healthy friend who can hang out with me and celebrate the passing of the New Year,” wrote one user from Shandong.
In wuhanwhere the pandemic began three years ago, tens of thousands of people gathered to celebrate in a context of a strong security presence.
Barricades were erected and hundreds of police and other security workers stood guard on the night of the first large-scale spontaneous gathering in the city since nationwide protests in late November, shortly after which the Chinese authorities all but abandoned the zero-zero policy. Covid.
Officers ushered people out of at least one popular New Year’s Eve gathering spot and used loudspeakers at various locations to broadcast a short message advising people not to gather.
“In the interest of your health and safety, do not assemble or stop,” the message advised to a large crowd of celebrating people, who took no notice.
In Shanghaimany crowded the historic riverside promenade, the Bund.
“We all traveled from Chengdu to celebrate in Shanghai,” said Da Dai, a 28-year-old digital media executive traveling with two friends. “We’ve already had Covid, so now I feel like it’s safe to enjoy it.”
days after Hong Kong lTo lift limits on group gatherings, tens of thousands of people gathered near the city’s Victoria Harbor for a countdown.
It was the city’s largest New Year’s Eve celebration in several years. The event was canceled in 2019 due to often violent social unrest and was reduced in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
The government of Malaysia canceled its New Year countdown and fireworks event at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur after nationwide flooding displaced tens of thousands of people and a landslide killed 31 people this month.
Europe It also bid farewell to a year in which a major war broke out after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, with no end to the conflict in sight.
The curfews which run from 19:00 local time to midnight remained in force throughout Ukraine, making it impossible to celebrate the beginning of 2023 in public spaces.
Several regional governors posted messages on social media warning residents not to break restrictions on New Year’s Eve, with some even warning that police presence on city streets would increase at night.
Paris was set to stage its first New Year’s fireworks since 2019. A 10-minute fireworks display was scheduled for midnight, with 500,000 people expected to gather on the Champs-Elysees avenue to watch it.
Like many places, the Czech capital, Praguewas feeling the financial pressure and therefore was not putting on a fireworks display.
In an echo of the sometimes violent weather extremes around the world in 2022, heavy rain and strong winds on Saturday caused the cancellation of fireworks displays in the major cities in the Netherlands, including Amsterdam and The Hague, and the televised national exhibition in the port city of Rotterdam.
But several European cities registered record warmth for the time of year. The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute said on Twitter that it was looking at the warmest New Year’s Eve on record, with the temperature in central Prague, where records go back 247 years, reaching 17.7 degrees C.
It was also the warmest New Year’s Eve ever recorded in France, official meteorologist Meteo France said.
In Croatiadozens of cities, including the capital Zagreb, canceled the fireworks after lovers of the pets warned about the harmful effects of noise and gasesand asked for more celebrations environmentally conscious.
The Adriatic city of Rovinj he planned to replace the fireworks with laser shows and Zagreb was putting on confetti, visual effects and music. The port city of Rijeka was aiming to redirect funds allocated for fireworks to animal care associations, authorities said. (Reuters)
Reference-aristeguinoticias.com
