The lions of London's Trafalgar Square were barricaded off, as was the Red Square in Moscow and Madrid's Puerta del Sol. In Rome, big crowds would not assemble in St Peter's for New Year`s Eve vespers, and revellers would not make their yearly dive into the Tiber. While some cities would launch fireworks over empty streets, others, such as London and Singapore, called their displays off. In Australia, where Sydney's fireworks annually serve as the world's first big visual display of the new year, gatherings were banned and internal borders shut. The rules prevented the traditional assembly of thousands of Roman Catholic worshippers for New Year's Eve vespers at St Peter's Basilica.

Source: dna January 01, 2021 02:03 UTC