Reuters/Francois LenoirA worker dismantles equipment that would have been used to celebrate New Year in central Brussels, December 31, 2015. Authorities in the Belgian capital Brussels on Wednesday called off the city's traditional New Year's Eve fireworks display, citing fears of a militant attack.
In the shadow of horrific terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, several major cities have canceled their New Year's Eve celebrations.
Brussels and Paris have scrapped their fireworks displays entirely, while much of Europe will welcome 2016 in a subdued fashion.
Belgium canceled official festivities on Wednesday in its capital due to significant risk of a terrorist act, Bloomberg reported.
The termination of Brussels' fireworks came as police detained eight suspects and members of a motorcycle club called the Kamikaze Riders in connection with a New Year’s Eve plot, IBTimes UK reported.
Belgium remains at the core of the investigation surrounding the November 13 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead after two of the suicide bombers, Brahim Abdeslam and Bilal Hadfi, were tied to Brussels.
Grief-stricken Paris has also canceled its main fireworks display. A smaller celebration, however, involving a five-minute video performance shown on screens along Champs-Élysées will still take place, Sky News reported.
Approximately 600,000 people typically gather around the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and Champs-Élysées to ring in the new year, according to Sky News.
REUTERS/Charles PlatiauArmed French soldiers patrol in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, December 30, 2015,
While Turkey has yet to cancel festivities, the nation remains on high alert after authorities found suicide vests and bombs during a raid on two suspected ISIS militants believed to have crossed into Turkey from Syria.
Despite threats, however, some cities kept celebrations as planned.
On Thursday, Emanuel Lutchman, a 25-year-old man who planned to attack a restaurant in New York, on New Year's Eve was detained and charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
According to the Justice Department, Lutchman purchased two black ski masks, zip-ties, two knives, a machete, duct tape, ammonia, and latex gloves for the planned attack.
US Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. of the Western District of New York had a message for others who may be planning to provide support to ISIS: "You will be caught, you will be prosecuted, and you will be punished."
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