Brussels cancels New Year's fireworks, festivities over terror threat

Belgian authorities on Dec. 30 cancelled the annual New Year's Eve festivities and fireworks in the heart of Brussels after revealing an alleged jihadist plot to attack the capital during the holiday.

The city of 1.2 million people has been on high alert since France said several men involved in the deadly November 13 attacks in Paris had links to Brussels, which is home to the headquarters of the European Union and NATO.
 
"Unfortunately we have been forced to cancel the fireworks and all that was planned for tomorrow [Dec. 31] evening," mayor Yvan Mayeur told Belgian broadcaster RTBF.
 
Last year, some 100,000 people turned out to watch the traditional New Year's Eve fireworks display at the Place de Brouckere, a central square.
 
Mayeur said in the current circumstances it wasn't possible to "guarantee that we can check everyone coming to the event."  

"It's better not to take any risks," he added.
 
On Dec. 29, the authorities said they had arrested two people suspected of plotting attacks on "emblematic sites" in Brussels during the New Year festivities.
 
A source close to the investigation told AFP officials were trying to determine whether members of a motorcyle gang, the so-called "Kamikaze Riders", were involved in the plot.
 
Belgian media said the gang's founder was one of the two held on suspicion of terrorism-related activities. The pair are due to appear before a judge on Dec. 31 who will determine whether or not to keep them in custody.
         
Speaking for the first time since the plot Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said the decision to cancel the New Year's festivities was a tough one but the right one.
 
"It was, I understand well, a delicate,...