White Roses, Candles Bring In Solemn New Year

[Darknight]

White Roses, Candles Bring in Solemn New Year

Reuters

By Mark Bendeich

PATONG BEACH, Thailand (Reuters) - People held candles and white roses on the tsunami-hit island of Phuket, tearfully embracing as they grieved, in a poignant symbol of the mood which darkened New Year celebrations across the globe.

In contrast to the usual revelry, sadness hung over this year's festivities after more than 124,000 people were killed and millions left homeless by Sunday's massive Indian Ocean waves.

Australia led the world in a global minute of silence, parties were canceled and trees on Paris's grand Champs Elysees were shrouded in black on Friday.

On Thailand's Phuket island, bar girls and customers at the Tiger Discotheque stopped their partying for a candlelight vigil yards away from where the waves had crashed into Patong beach.

At the stroke of midnight, party-goers stopped their celebrations and lit incense sticks. The mournful Elton John song "Candle in the Wind" echoed through the resort.

On the debris-strewn beach, two people were lonely figures, crouching near the sea with lit candles.

Then it was over and the disco roared back to life with the girls wiping away their tears and returning to the table tops.

"It's definitely a big difference," said British tourist Richard de Gottal at the Tiger. "It's business as usual here and 100 yards away there was death and destruction. It's very, very surreal."

MINUTE'S SILENCE

Sydney, the world's first major city to start celebrations, went ahead with its annual New Year's Eve firework displays, but the estimated 1 million revellers who flocked to the harbor foreshore were urged to remember those killed.

Sydneysiders were asked to observe a minute's silence in remembrance of tsunami victims. Party-goers in Australia's Melbourne and in neighboring New Zealand similarly paused to remember.This gives an opportunity for mums and dads to help to explain what happened to their children," a spokesman for Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

At the stroke of midnight Sydney's Harbor Bridge exploded into a blaze of color, with multi-color flashes illuminating the city for miles around.

"You've still got to have something like this otherwise people haven't got any hope," said mother-of-two Toni Leonard.

Around the world, party plans were dropped or toned down. In Sri Lanka, where more than 28,500 people died, President Chandrika Kumaratunga canceled all New Year celebrations and declared a national day of mourning.

Thailand called off outdoor celebrations in memory of its 4,500 victims and Malaysia decided against official festivities.

In Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for muted New Year celebrations and a fireworks display over the Marina Bay area was canceled.

In Hong Kong, where disgruntled residents are used to marking public holidays with anti-government protests, political parties across the spectrum decided to postpone a New Year's Day march and instead planned to raise funds for tsunami victims.

EUROPE SOMBRE

The Asian disaster has cast a long shadow over global celebrations, particularly in Europe. Europeans made up the majority of the more than 2,200 foreign tourists known to be dead and 7,000 missing.

Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany planned to fly flags at half mast to start 2005 as a mark of respect for their many dead and missing, who had left Europe's cold, dark winter for the sunshine and golden sands of Asia.

Paris draped black mourning crepe on the trees lining the Champs Elysees to pay homage to the victims. Thousands of Parisians traditionally collect on the tree-lined boulevard in the center of the French capital on New Year's Eve.

Istanbul, with memories of a massive earthquake that rocked northwestern Turkey in 1999 and killed more than 18,000, canceled a concert and firework display in the city center.

A number of Italian cities abandoned plans for major New Year's Eve parties, deciding instead to send the money saved to charities helping the victims.

Near Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, where a million people typically throng on New Year's Eve, flags were being flown at half-mast. Around 1,000 Germans are missing after the disaster.

Germany urged revellers to donate some of the $136 million they would normally spend on fireworks, a call repeated across Europe. (With additional reporting by Paul Tait in Sydney, Philip Blenkinsop in Berlin)

The Belgian Capital Brussels Also Housing the European parliment and The nato, Cancelled the New years fireworks on the "grand place" the market place.