New Year latest: 300 arrests in Berlin as thousands welcome 2024
Berlin police claim that people threw fireworks at officers and attempted to make molotov cocktails
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Berlin police detained over 300 people on New Year’s Eve after at least 14 on-duty officers were injured as people shot fireworks at each other and police throughout the city.
One of the incidents occurred near Alexanderplatz where around 500 people were letting off fireworks at each other before police dispersed the group at the landmark Neptune Fountain, reported DW.
The crowd fired at police with pyrotechnics when they tried to check them for fireworks, according to the outlet.
In Neukölln, a number of arrests were made after people attempted to make Molotov cocktails, which police say they confiscated.
It came amid jubilant scenes in the US as tens of thousands of beaming people in New York’s Times Square, were showered with confetti and hugs and kisses after watching the descent of the colourful ball marking the birth of 2024.
The UK earlier welcomed 2024 with a bang as tens of thousands packed the streets of London and Edinburgh to watch the cities’ world-famous New Year’s Eve fireworks displays.
Tickets for the event in London sold out and official viewing areas were full. Organisers finished checks on the pyrotechnics with more than 10,000 fireworks shooting up into the night’s sky after the Big Ben countdown.
The march of midnight from time zone to time zone brought the new year first to places like Australia, where more than 1 million people watched a pyrotechnic display centred around Sydney’s famous Opera House and harbour bridge — a number of spectators equivalent to one in five of the city’s residents.
First pictures of fireworks over Sydney Harbour
The clock strikes midnight in Sydney
Sydney in Australia is the latest to celebrate the new year, with their iconic firework display starting the festivities.
In pictures: Celebrations begin in Bali
Couple queue at St Pancras with hope of spending New Year’s with their daughters
Maes Bert and Lievens Nele, both 45, are in a large queue for tickets at London’s St Pancras International, hoping to get spaces on a train home to Brussels on Sunday so they can enjoy the New Year countdown with their two daughters after their train on Saturday was cancelled.
Ms Bert said: “Our tickets was cancelled yesterday so if you want a new ticket you have to queue here and hope you get one, and I hope we are getting home today, but it’s not sure there are tickets, so we have to wait and wait and wait, but it’s not going further, it takes a long time. “
Mr Nele said: “Yesterday we got to Dover for trying with a boat but that was not an option.”
Ms Bert said they had been queuing for about half an hour, adding: “Yesterday you can (re-)book your tickets but all was booked for today, but now they said there are coming more places for a train, so now we hope there is a place for two persons, and otherwise it’s tomorrow, but then we are not home for the holidays. Our two children are home.”
Mr Nele said: “They (their daughters) got back on a boat yesterday, there was places for two people and we gave the places to our daughters, Antje (20) and Janne (24).”
Rishi Sunak delivers New Year’s message as he looks ahead to 2024
Rishi Sunak delivers New Year’s message as he looks ahead to 2024
Rishi Sunak delivered a New Year’s message as he looked ahead to his party’s contributions in 2024. The Prime Minister, who is currently lagging in the polls, decided to focus on his party’s achievements in 2023 in a video released on Sunday morning, 31 December. “We’re getting the economy growing. We’ve cut inflation in half. We’ve delivered the biggest business tax cut in modern British history,” Mr Sunak boasted. He insisted his government wouldn’t stop there, adding: “We’re going further to grow our economy by reducing debt, cutting taxes, and rewarding hard work, building secure supplies of energy here at home, backing British business and delivering world-class education.
Pictures: Thousands gather in South Korea to watch final sunset
How to watch the London fireworks on TV and in-person
In London, hundreds of thousands of people will be joining the crowds with the hopes of grabbing a good spot to watch the countdown and see the sky light up with fireworks.
However, if you’d rather watch the spectacular display from the comfort of your own home, the excitement will be aired live on BBC One at midnight.
From 11.30pm onwards, BBC will be airing Rick Astley Rocks New Year’s Eve from the Camden Roundhouse, before cutting to the display shortly before the countdown starts.
If you are in the mood however to see the show from one of London’s iconic landmarks, crowds usually tend to gather in Southwark Bridge, Greenwich Park, Parliament Hill and along the River Thames.
However, you will need a ticket if you are entering the ticketed area along the Embankment.
Rishi Sunak hails a ‘momentous’ 2023 in New Year’s message
Met Office issues severe weather warning as New Year’s revellers face galeforce winds
Partygoers keen to ring in the New Year look to be facing erratic weather conditions across the country, with severe winds and rain due to lash down on the UK.
The Met Office has warned that travellers may face difficulties, with hundreds of train services across the country impacted and delays expected.
This comes after a windy night across much of southern England and parts of Wales, with a tornado warning in place until 6am on Sunday as the bad weather continues in the wake of Storm Gerritt.
Read more here
Met Office issues severe weather warning as New Year’s revellers face galeforce winds
A yellow weather warning for severe winds and rain has been issued for the south of England
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