BRUSSELS: The city of Brussels has cancelled its traditional fireworks display to see in the New Year on Monday night due to an ongoing state of heightened security.

Mayor Freddy Thielemans decided to limit festivities on the advice of Belgium’s crisis coordination centre on Sunday, a spokesman for the centre said. Christmas market stalls and the city centre’s ice rink would also close earlier than normal on Monday due to the alert prompted on Dec. 21 by authorities unveiling what they said was a plot to spring an Al Qaeda suspect from jail.

The 14 suspected Islamic militants arrested then were released the next day, but Belgium has kept in place increased security, including more police patrols at Brussels’ airport, on transport networks and at commercial centres.

“There are other elements at play, such as the words from Al Qaeda that countries with troops in Afghanistan are seen as possible targets,” the Belgian spokesman said.—Reuters