French burn fewer cars on New Year’s Eve due to pandemic

PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year’s Eve, set afire by young revelers. But that much lamented tradition appears to be in decline this year. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Saturday on Twitter that 874 vehicles burned overnight in France. That compared to New Year’s Eve in 2019, when 1,316 vehicles went up in flames. The practice of marking the new year reportedly began among youths — often from poor neighborhoods — in the 1990s in the region around Strasbourg in eastern France. Darmanin credited the low number this year with a heavy police presence on the streets enforcing pandemic restrictions.