New Year's revellers won't be having a ball at Times Square
Seasonal traditions at Times Square and Harbour City axed for this year
For the first time in 20 years, Hongkongers will not be able to watch the ball drop at Times Square in Causeway Bay as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve.
And across the harbour, the decades-long tradition of counting down to Christmas Day has been scrapped at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui.
But both venues denied that fears of Occupy protesters hijacking the events were behind the cancellations.
A spokeswoman for Times Square last night confirmed that its end-of-year countdown party - that tries to mirror its namesake in New York - on December 31 had been dumped.
"It is a format change," the spokeswoman said, adding "we won't go into that" when asked about Occupy Central.
Since 1993, revellers have packed into the forecourt of Times Square to watch a giant ball drop from the 22-metre LED tower as midnight strikes.
This year, there will be four days of afternoon concerts starting from December 28.