- Title: Madrid sees in the New Year with crowds and fireworks, despite COVID
- Date: 31st December 2021
- Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (DECEMBER 31, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BALL ON CLOCK TOWER LOWERING, CLOCK FACE STRIKING MIDNIGHT AND BELLS RINGING REVELLERS EATING GRAPES MADRID, SPAIN (JANUARY 1, 2022) (REUTERS) FIREWORKS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CELEBRATING AND CHEERING PEOPLE EATING GRAPES / FIREWORKS FIREWORKS AND SIGN READING (Spanish) “Happy 2022†MAN SHOOTING FIREWORKS WITH PHONE VAR
- Embargoed: 14th January 2022 23:54
- Keywords: 12 grapes Madrid New Year Eve Sol square Spain celebrations new year tradition
- Location: MADRID, SPAIN
- City: MADRID, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA001FADBYH3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Madrid celebrated New Year in the traditional way on Friday (December 31), with 7,000 people gathered on the central Puerta del Sol square despite a surge of coronavirus cases across the country.
Revellers saw in 2022 by eating 12 grapes in time with the midnight bell chimes atop the old post office building, which now serves as the offices of Madrid's regional president, Isabel Diaz Ayuso.
Saul Pedrero, a 34-year old clerk, made the trip to the capital from Barcelona, which has some of Spain's strictest controls including a 1 a.m. curfew.
"It seems like another country. Here you can do everything and nobody says anything," he said outside the regional government headquarters, which was brightly lit in pink, blue and green.
A mix of tourists and locals donned colourful clothing and did their best to start the party despite the presence of thick facial masks and a slightly downbeat atmosphere.
Diaz Ayuso, of the conservative People's Party, has limited COVID restrictions and kept bars and restaurants open during the pandemic, meaning the city's New Year's Eve celebrations went ahead despite Spain recording one of Europe's highest coronavirus case rates at present.
Even though Spain has been recording record contagion, with its 14-day infection rate reaching 1,775 cases per 100,000 people on Thursday, rising more than eight-fold in a month, attendees felt the safety measures were sufficient.
Attendance both during the rehearsal and the actual New Year's eve celebration were restricted to 60% of 2019 numbers, when the Puerta del Sol ceremony was last held, and masks were made compulsory.
(Production: Michael Gore, Elena Rodriguez) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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