With curfews among the strict measures in place to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus, normally raucous New Year celebrations across Europe were generally muted – although there were some outbreaks of violence amid illegal gatherings.

Authorities throughout Europe had warned they would clamp down on revelers breaching public health rules, with curfews enforced in France, Italy, Turkey, Latvia, Czechia and Greece.

Most people heeded advice to stay indoors in small gatherings, although 2,500 partygoers attended an illegal New Year rave in northwestern France, provoking fears that it would result in the superspreading of the coronavirus.

Numerous illegal gatherings were broken up by police across the United Kingdom, while three police officers were injured in violence in Berlin.

As the clock struck midnight, fireworks erupted over Moscow's Red Square and the Acropolis in Athens, but the explosions echoed across largely empty streets.

A few families gathered in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square to listen to the traditional ringing of the bells at midnight. They followed the Spanish custom of eating 12 grapes with the stroke of the bells, before police cleared an area that normally hosts thousands of revelers.

The streets of Brussels and Rome were also near-deserted. Pope Francis canceled plans to lead New Year's Eve and New Year's Day services because of a flare-up of his sciatica condition, leaving St Peter's Square silent. 

In Paris, the famous Champs-Élysées avenue, usually crowded on December 31, was eerily quiet. The city's transition to 2021 was marked by a virtual reality concert given by French composer Jean-Michel Jarre in the heart of Notre-Dame Cathedral.

"We wanted to celebrate December 31 in an innovative way, despite the Covid restrictions," Jarre told Radio France International.

However, some French cities saw outbreaks of serious disorder. In Strasbourg 60 vehicles were set on fire, while police in Marseille broke up an illegal party of around 300 people, fining 150 revelers for violating the curfew.

At the illegal rave attended by 2,500 clubbers in Lieuron, south of Rennes in Brittany, police clashed with protesters as they battled in vain to stop the event.

In a less affluent district of Bordeaux, a post office was burnt down and bus and tram stops destroyed, with police coming under attack from fireworks and projectiles.

London's Metropolitan Police attended 58 parties and unlicensed music events across the city, the vast majority of which ended when police intervened.

In Essex, hundreds of people were dispersed from an illegal New Year's Eve party, with similar action taken across some other parts of England.

But the UK's Police Federation said it was "pleasantly surprised" that there were not a higher number of illegal gatherings, with the UK unusually quiet. 

Normally there are around 100,000 people packed into the streets around London's Victoria Embankment to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks. This year just a few dozen party-goers arrived in Parliament Square to watch Big Ben chime 11 p.m. – midnight in Brussels – marking the moment that Brexit finally became a reality, with Britain severing its turbulent half-century partnership with Europe. Police ordered them home well before midnight.

The streets of Edinburgh are normally packed to mark what Scotland calls Hogmanany. This New Year most people stayed at home, although a small group of activists held a protest outside the country's devolved parliament, condemning Brexit and calling for Scottish independence and EU membership.

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In Berlin 82 people were arrested after clashes between illegal revelers and police. Firefighters were called to 18 blazes across the city caused by people launching fireworks from their homes. 

At least three people were killed in firework accidents in Europe. In the village of Boofzheim, forty kilometers south of Strasbourg, a reveler was killed when returning to a firework. A 13-year-old boy was killed after being hit by a firecracker in a Roma camp in the northern Italian city of Asti, while 20 miles from Berlin a man was killed by a home-made pyrotechnic. 

In her New Year address, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke emotionally about the pandemic which had "imposed a lot on everyone, and too much on some" in 2020.

Italy's President Sergio Mattarella also focused his New Year message on the pandemic, calling on people to register for vaccination. 

"It's necessary to protect one's own health and it's dutiful to protect those of the others – family members, friends, colleagues," said Mattarella.

As of last week, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Europe had seen 17,348,389 cases of COVID-19 and suffered 427,798 deaths.