Fireworks, smoke and tear gas begin a new decade with an explosion

Animals party in Times Square during the New Year celebration on January 1, 2020 in New York City. People began celebrating New Year's Eve in Times Square in 1904, in 1907 the New Year's Eve dance made its first descent from the flagpole of One Times Square.-AFP

NEW YORK: New York dropped its traditional crystal ball set in a crowded Times Square in 2020, after the celebrations marked by the crisis in other countries ended a year of turmoil around the world that saw Paris hit with fireworks and Big Ben in London plays after a long restoration.

Billions of people around the world applauded in 2020 after a tumultuous year dominated by demonstrations calling for political riots and actions against climate change.

"I'm not particularly optimistic about the future," Natalie Reinhart, 29, told AFP before the midnight celebration in New York.

"I don't think anyone thinks the world is in a good position, and I think it's one of the distinctive things of the decade," said the New Yorker.

"There is a kind of obvious pessimism. Our pop songs are sad too."

However, Times Square performers managed to keep going, while artists such as feminist rocker Alanis Morissette took the stage before a long-awaited performance by the sensation of K-pop BTS.

New Yorker Gabriel Rodriguez, 53, expressed sadness about the future of the company, but told AFP his way of dealing with it: "I live day by day".

"New year with dignity"

Chile has seen thousands of protesters gathered in Plaza Italia in Santiago, the epicenter of protests against President Sebastián Piñera's right-wing government since October, to celebrate a "New Year's Eve with dignity".

One of the largest New Year's festivals in the world took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with an estimated three million revelers.

Most of them wore white listening to concerts and watching a traditional firework display on Copacabana beach.

In the French capital, tens of thousands gathered in the Champs Elysees, despite a grueling transport strike which meant weeks of suffering for travelers.

They arrived on foot, by bicycle, by taxi and some by subway, to play in the new decade while a dazzling light show illuminated the Arc de Triomphe.

In the British capital, thousands of revelers lined up on the Thames to see the fireworks launched by the London Eye during the last year before Brexit.

Big Ben rang 12 times after the bell had been closed mostly in 2019 due to renovations.

After a year of political controversy that led to the resignation of Prime Minister Theresa May and culminated in the promise of Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson to leave the European Union on January 31st.

As tensions rise between the United States and Iran in the Middle East, fireworks have exploded in Dubai around Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

In Abidjan, Ivory Coast, pyrotechnics were reflected in the waters of the Ebrie lagoon.

Sydney, drowned in smoke, marked the start of the new year with a huge firework display, despite a cancellation request that received more than 280,000 signatures while devastating fires across the country.

But the show continued: over 100,000 fireworks lit the horizon of the hundreds of thousands of spectators who flocked to the city center.

- Celebrations between agitation -

After over six months of almost daily demonstrations, Hong Kong marked the beginning of 2020 with tear gas and water cannons. Pro-democracy demonstrators led their movement into the new year with countdown demonstrations at midnight and a massive march scheduled for Wednesday.

Before midnight, thousands of protesters gathered in the financial center, including along the Victoria Harbor coast and at the Lan Kwai Fong nightlife spot.

The protesters at the port said: "Ten! Nine! Hong Kong free, the revolution now!" in a sea of light from their cell phones.

Small crowds of demonstrators in the Mong Kok district set fire to the barricades and riot police unleashed their first discharge of tear gas by 2020 in response.

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

In impoverished North Korea, a large crowd that gathered for a concert in central Pyongyang applauded when the clock struck midnight. The fireworks exploded in the sky on a stage illuminated by neon lights that hosted a strongly choreographed dance show.

Across the border, South Koreans poured into bell ceremonies, a traditional ritual that marks the beginning of the new year, with a thousand