European countries have reinforced security measures yesterday in view of the celebrations for Christmas, placing concrete barricades in city centers and increasing the number of police after the attack of the Islamic State in Berlin last week, when 12 people were killed.
In Berlin, police closed the Parizer square in front of the Brandenburg Gate and decided to allocate additional 1,700 police officers, many along a street with festive events, where armored cars next to the partitions will exclude the area in vehicles.
According to the Berlin police spokesman Thomas Noientorf the news agency "Reuters TV», some of the officers will be armed with machine guns, an unusual step for the German police.
In Milan, where police killed a Tunisian driver of the truck attack in Berlin, the authorities have placed checkpoints around the main city square.
In Rome and Naples banned truck traffic from city centers and tourist spots such as the Colosseum in Rome, there are police and soldiers armed with automatic weapons.
Madrid will develop 1,600 additional police officers for the weekend. For the second year in a row, access to the central square of Puerta del Sol, where people often gathered to celebrate the advent of the new year, will be limited to 25,000 people, perifrouroumena by strong police and barricades.
In Cologne, western Germany, where the New Year's Eve last year hundreds of women have suffered sexual abuse and stole personal belongings outside the main train station, police have placed two new cameras to monitor the station square. The attacks were made by individuals with characteristics Arab countries and North Africa, according to police, and resulted in fierce criticism of Germany's Chancellor on immigration policy.
In Frankfurt, where the seat of the European Central Bank and Germany's largest airport, over 600 policemen will patrol tonight than twice; than 2015.
In Brussels, where Islamist suicide bombers killed 16 people and injured more than 150 in March, the mayor decided not to cancel the festivities this year.
In Paris, where gunmen of the Islamic State killed 130 in November 2015, the authorities have put in place intense security measures for the weekend celebrations, including throwing fireworks on the Champs Elysees, which is expected to gather 600,000 people. Soldiers with heavy weapons patrolling popular tourist destinations, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre Museum.
In the metropolitan area of Paris are 10,300 policemen, soldiers, firemen and other personnel, less than the 11,000 that existed in 2015, a few weeks after the attacks in Bataklan theater. Employees of private storage companies will be responsible for body searches, especially on the Champs Elysees.
Throughout France, over 90,000 policemen, including 7,000 soldiers will be on duty on New Year's Eve, said the authorities.
