Brussels New Year's Eve party set to go ahead

Brussels' New Year Eve fireworks party will be going ahead "until further notice", mayor Yvan Mayeur's office confirmed on Tuesday.

The city hall is in ongoing contact with Belgium's terror threat analysis body, OCAM, and will follow its recommendations.

The festivities in the pedestrian zone - around the Bourse and De Brouckère - will begin at 20.00 and continue until 1.00 in the morning. A sound-and-light show, live DJ and fireworks at midnight are on the agenda.

Access to the party zone will be possible from 19.00, from the bottom end of Boulevard Anspach, or side streets Rue des Teinturiers, des Pierres, des Riches Claires, Jules Van Praet and Auguste Orts. Bags are discouraged - and glass bottles and personal fireworks are banned.

De Brouckère metro station will be closed from 19.00 and Bourse from 21.00. STIB services in Brussels will be free from midnight.

Metros and tram lines 3, 4, 7, 19, 32, 39, 92 and 94 will run until 2.00. Noctis nightbuses will run as usual from Central Station between midnight and 5.00, but with some diversions in place.

TEC services in Wallonia and Brussels will be free all day on 31 December and until 9.00 on New Year's morning.

De Lijn, the Flemish public transport operator, is offering a €3 pass giving unlimited access to its routes from 18.00 on New Year's Eve and all day on 1 January. The SNCB has no special offers planned.

A group of volunteers, going under the name Responsible Young Drivers, will be offering free car rides home to partygoers in Brussels and Wallonia.

In 2014, 100,000 people took part in the first New Year's Eve celebrations to be held at Place de Brouckère. The party previously took place on the Mont des Arts. The festivities were cancelled altogether last year in the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks and Brussels lockdown.