New Year countdowns: Police close access to 6 areas around Marina Bay due to crowds

SINGAPORE – The police on Dec 31 said they have closed access to six areas around Marina Bay due to large crowds that have gathered to attend New Year countdown events.

They first said in a Facebook post at 9.48pm that access to the Jubilee Bridge, Merlion Waterfront and Fullerton Waterfront area was closed, and added Esplanade Waterfront area to the list in an update at 10.24pm.

At 11.34pm, the police said in another update that two more locations – the Marina Bay Sands Waterfront area and Helix Bridge – were closed off.

They said members of the public are advised to avoid all those areas, and check either the police’s Facebook page or visit

https://go.gov.sg/crowd-at-marina-bay

for the latest information on the crowd situation.

Some

500,000 revellers are expected for the countdown events

, and the police said on Dec 27 it would deploy drones and tap artificial intelligence (AI) to manage the crowd.

More than 800 officers are also on the ground. They include officers from the Special Operations Command, Protective Security Command, Public Transport Security Command, Police Coast Guard, Traffic Police and Emergency Response Teams.

This is in addition to auxiliary police officers and security officers.

They added that some entrances and exits of MRT stations around Marina Bay and the Kallang Basin may be closed to regulate crowd flow in the event of overcrowding. Trains may also skip affected MRT stations such as Bayfront and Stadium to divert the crowd away.