Police will step up their presence at New Year’s Day football matches in response to “heightened community tensions”.

Officers will team up with the Bermuda Football Association’s security committee for the Friendship Cup and Shield final matches at the Somerset Cricket Club on New Year’s Day.

They will also be out in force at New Year’s Eve celebrations including the City Hall light show and the annual onion drop in the St George’s.

It comes after a 32-year-old was shot in the shoulder outside the Spinning Wheel, Hamilton, on December 22, and a 35-year-old man was stabbed in the chest near Place’s Place on Christmas Eve.

Martin Weekes, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, and Lyndon Raynor, head of the BFA’s Security Committee, said that there will be a “zero tolerance approach” to antisocial behaviour.

Mr Weekes added: “The public should be aware that police road checks will be in place to prevent violence at the various venues throughout the holiday.

“These will be coupled with ongoing Roadside Sobriety Checkpoints in the areas of bars and clubs where it has been identified that offences of Drink Driving may take place.

“On behalf of all the members of the Bermuda Police Service, Bermuda Reserve Police and our community partners, I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy new year as we seek to build on the partnerships and good relationships formed with the wider community in 2019 to achieve even greater success in making Bermuda safer in 2020.”