New York, London tighten security for New Year’s Eve

Scotland Yard Wedneday stepped up security in time for New Year’s Eve here amid heightened fears of a terror attack in European capitals during the celebrations on Thursday.

More armed officers may be visible on the streets as reports emerged of arrests in Turkey of two suspected Islamic State operatives who planned to detonate suicide vests near bars and a shopping centre in Ankara on December 31, the Metropolitan police said.

“The public will probably see more police officers on the streets as part of our policing plan. They may see more visible firearms officers as well. But it’s all part of the aim of our plan, which is to provide safety and security for those coming into London, and also to reassure — not frighten —people,” a Met police spokesperson said.

Keith Vaz, Britain’s longest-serving Indian-origin MP and chair of the House of Commons home affairs select committee, asked Londoners not to “give into fear”.

“We should never allow the threat of terrorism to frighten us into changing our normal lives. We need to continue with our celebrations. Given the current climate, of course we should be extra vigilant and continue to be well protected but if we give into fear then they would have won,” he said.

Last week, the Vienna police said days before Christmas a warning was sent out by a “friendly intelligence service” to numerous European capitals of an attack involving explosives or a shooting between Christmas and the New Year.

Meanwhile, measures to protect hundreds of thousands of revellers expected to ring in 2016 in New York are “more extensive than ever,” the city’s mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. The Big Apple is a popular destination on December 31, with about one million people packing into Times Square every year for the countdown to midnight.

“I certainly understand that everyone’s concerned and I want everyone to understand and to hear that the NYPD is ready, that the preparations for New Year’s Eve are more extensive than ever,” Mr De Blasio said in an interview.