Welcome to the roaring 2020s: New decade ushered in with fireworks, revelry

SYDNEY — Smoke-choked Sydney ushered in the New Year with a huge fireworks display while police in Hong Kong fired tear gas at protesters, as crisis clouded some of the first celebrations to ring in the new decade.

Billions around the world are set to cheer in 2020 after a tumultuous year dominated by demonstrations calling for political upheaval and action on climate change.

Australia’s largest city usually puts on a dazzling display of pyrotechnics over the glittering harbor to kick off global festivities, but this year’s celebrations were overshadowed by calls to cancel the fireworks as devastating forest fires raged across the country.

Toxic smoke haze has shrouded Sydney for weeks and a petition to cancel the event out of respect for fire victims attracted more than 280,000 signatures.

New Year’s fireworks erupt over Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House (L) during the fireworks show on January 1, 2020. (Peter Parks/AFP)

Fireworks displays were scrapped in Australia’s capital, Canberra, and Sydney’s western suburbs due to elevated fire danger and extreme weather conditions.

But the show did go on in Sydney, where more than 100,000 fireworks lit up the skyline for the hundreds of thousands of spectators thronging the city center. Crowds were warned to take care as strong winds gusted in the harbor.

Celebrations amid upheaval

As the clock ticks past midnight, major cities in Europe, Africa and the Americas will join the celebrations, but in many places the festivities will be marked by turmoil and political upheaval.

After more than six months of near-daily demonstrations, Hong Kong ushered in 2020 with tear gas and water cannon, as pro-democracy protesters took their movement into the new year with midnight countdown rallies and a massive march planned for January 1.

Before midnight on Tuesday, thousands of protesters gathered across the financial hub, including along the waterfront of Victoria Harbor and at nightlife hotspot Lan Kwai Fong.

Protesters at the harborfront counted down chanting “Ten! Nine! Liberate Hong Kong, revolution now!” as they lit up their phones in a sea of lights.

Pro-democracy protesters and revelers gather at the promenade of Tsim Sha Tsui district as fireworks explode over Hong Kong on January 1, 2020. (Philip Fong/AFP)

Smaller crowds of protesters in the Mong Kok district set fire to barricades — and riot police unleashed 2020’s first volleys of tear gas in response.

Earlier in the evening, thousands of people linked arms in human chains that stretched for miles along busy shopping streets and through local neighborhoods.

The protests in Hong Kong, sparked by a now-abandoned bill to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland, have since morphed into a popular revolt against Beijing’s control.

Bells, pop and politics

As the clock struck midnight in North Korea, a large crowd gathered for a concert in the center of Pyongyang cheered as the clock struck midnight, with fireworks bursting in the sky above a neon-lit stage hosting a tightly-choreographed dance performance.

Across the border, South Koreans flocked to bell-ringing ceremonies — a traditional ritual marking the start of the new year — with thousands watching in central Seoul alongside performances by Korean pop stars.

In Paris, 250,000 to 300,000 people usually gather on the Champs-Elysees to welcome the New Year, but turnout could suffer amid a grueling transport strike that has caused weeks of misery for commuters.

Midnight in London will be marked by the chimes of Big Ben, which has been silent during a long restoration, as traditional fireworks are set off over the Thames for the last new year before Brexit.

People pose for a picture in front of a 2020 luminous sign after midnight during a countdown event to mark the New Year in central Seoul on January 1, 2020. (Jung Yeon-je/AFP)

It follows a year of political wrangling that led to the resignation of Prime Minister Theresa May and culminated in Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledging to leave the European Union on January 31.

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to deliver his annual New Year address, 20 years after he was elevated to the presidency by Boris Yeltsin’s shock resignation in his 1999 end-of-year speech.

Russia will celebrate the new decade over several time zones, with Muscovites flocking to the center of the capital for fireworks over the Kremlin.