A soldier patrols the area around the Colosseum to protect the crowds gathering to celebrate the New Year. Photo / AP
A soldier patrols the area around the Colosseum to protect the crowds gathering to celebrate the New Year. Photo / AP
European capitals tightened security ahead of New Year's celebrations, erecting concrete barriers in city centres and stepping up police numbers after the Isis (Islamic State) attack in Berlin last week that killed 12 people.
Security concerns have also been stepped up at other major cities around the world.
Berlin policeclosed the Pariser Platz square in front of the Brandenburg Gate and deployed 1700 extra officers, many along a party strip where armoured cars flank concrete barriers blocking off the area.
"Every measure is being taken to prevent a possible attack," Berlin police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf told Reuters TV. Some police officers would carry submachine guns, he said, an unusual tactic for German police.
Last week's attack in Berlin, in which a 24-year old Tunisian ploughed a truck into a Christmas market, has prompted German politicians to call for tougher security measures.
In Milan, where police shot the man dead, security checks were set up around the main square. Trucks were banned from the centres of Rome and Naples. Police and soldiers cradled machine guns outside tourists sites including Rome's Colosseum.
Madrid has deployed an extra 1600 police for the New Year weekend. For the second year running, access to the city's central Puerta del Sol square where revellers traditionally gather to bring in the New Year will be restricted to 25,000 people, with police setting up barricades to control access.
In Cologne, where hundreds of women were sexually assaulted and robbed outside the central train station on New Year's Eve last year, German police have installed new video surveillance cameras to monitor the station square.
The attacks in Cologne, where police said the suspects were mainly of North African and Arab appearance, fuelled criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to accept nearly 900,000 migrants last year.
Vienna police handed out more than a thousand pocket alarms to women, eager to avoid a repeat of the Cologne sexual assaults.
In Paris, where Isis gunmen killed 130 people last November, authorities were prepared for a high-security weekend, the highlight of which will be the fireworks on the Champs-Elysees, which 600,000 people are expected to attend.
Ahead of New Year's Eve, heavily armed soldiers patrolled popular Paris tourist sites, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre museum.
Across France, more than 90,000 police and thousands of soldiers will be on duty for New Year's Eve.
A soldier stands guard outside the Louvre museum, in Paris. Photo / AP
More than 50 Parisian surrounding streets were closed to traffic today, with access roads sealed off with concrete barriers or heavy vehicles, and strict bans on fireworks and glass bottles.
Three men were arrested near Toulouse on Wednesday on suspicion of planning New Year's Eve terror attacks.
In Madrid, heavy vehicles will be used to block potential truck attacks on New Year's Eve crowds in the central square Puerta del Sol, with an extra 1600 police on duty. Trucks weighing more than 3.5 tonnes have been banned from areas holding traditional Three Kings parades on January 5.
In Italy, the interior ministry said it had deported a Tunisian national who was "set to strike" Italy.
In London, armed police will join about 3000 officers on the streets as hundreds of thousands of people watch the official fireworks display by the Thames.
New York police chief Carlos Gomez said 65 heavy rubbish and salting trucks loaded with sand would be stationed around the perimeter of Times Square " where up to 2 million people are expected to gather " as well as 100 lighter "blocker trucks" nearby. About 7000 police will be on duty.
"Due to the terrorist attacks in Nice, France, and in Berlin, we've enhanced our security measures," Gomez said.
In Sydney, an extra 2000 police officers will be deployed for the waterfront celebrations, with buses used as barriers in some busy pedestrian areas.
David Bowie, Prince and Gene Wilder will be honoured in the Sydney pyrotechnics display, which will adorn the Harbour Bridge, barges and CBD at midnight.
More than a million are expected to flock to the celebration where an estimated seven tonnes of fireworks will be let loose over the harbour.
NSW Premier Mike Baird has assured revellers heading to the nation's largest New Year's event that police will be doing "everything they can" to keep crowds safe, after a man was arrested for allegedly threatening online to hurt and kill others on Saturday night.
