New York, wary after Europe attacks,
tightens security for New Year's Eve
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[December 30, 2016]
By Hilary Russ
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City will
deploy sand-filled trucks and thousands of police officers as part of a
beefed-up plan to protect revelers at this year's New Year's Eve
celebrations in Times Square, mindful of two deadly truck attacks in
Europe this year.
As many as 2 million people are expected to gather on Saturday to
welcome the new year and authorities said on Thursday they were aware of
no credible threat to the annual festivities at the famed Manhattan
crossroads.
Even so, officials have redoubled efforts to prevent attacks like those
in Germany and France this year in which suspected Islamic militants
intentionally drove trucks into holiday crowds, killing dozens of
civilians.
"People will be safe," New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill
said at a news conference, aiming to allay any security concerns about
the Times Square celebration, where a giant crystal ball will descend
from a tower to mark the start of 2017.
"We're going to have one of the most well-policed, best-protected events
in one of the safest venues in the entire world given all the assets
that we deploy here," he said.
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New York Police Chief of Department Carlos Gomez said the truck attacks
in Europe were taken into consideration in planning New York's security
plan.
A truck attack at a holiday market in Berlin days before Christmas
killed a dozen people and injured 56, while a similar incident in Nice,
France, on Bastille Day this summer killed 86 people and injured more
than 400.
Revelers in New York City on Saturday will find 65 large sanitation
trucks filled with sand placed in strategic positions to block potential
truck attacks, as well as about 100 other smaller "blocker" vehicles,
officials said.
More than 80 sand trucks were used to protect the Macy's 90th
Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York after Islamic State militants abroad
encouraged their followers to target the event, which drew an estimated
3.5 million people to the streets of the largest U.S. city.
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![](../images/123016pics/news_f13.jpg)
Members of the New York Police Department's Counterterrorism Bureau
patrol Times Square in the lead up to New Year's celebrations in
Manhattan, New York City, U.S. December 29, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew
Kelly
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For New Year's Eve, the nearly 2 million visitors expected to gather
in the hours before midnight may notice heavily armed police teams,
bomb-sniffing dogs, helicopters and bag searches in subways. Coast
Guard and police vessels will patrol the waterways surrounding
Manhattan.
Officers also will make sweeps of area hotels, theaters and parking
garages and monitor checkpoints where they scan for radiation and
weapons, police said.
Other less visible layers of security include plainclothes officers,
hundreds of security cameras, the removal of trash cans, sealed
manhole covers and rooftop observation points.
All told, the New York Police Department has assigned nearly 7,000
police to Times Square and throughout the rest of the city on
Saturday, officials said.
Umbrellas, large bags and alcohol are banned and portions of 57th
and 59th streets will be closed to traffic.
(Reporting by Hilary Russ in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and
Bill Trott)
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