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NEW YORK, Jan 1: Amid heightened fears of terrorist attacks and bad economic signs some 750,000 revellers in New York’s Time Square welcomed the new year 2003 at midnight on Wednesday.
The people gathered in midtown Manhattan to watch the famous Times Square ball drop. Actor Christopher Reeve joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg to signal the descent of the 1,070-pound Waterford crystal ball.
Security was heightened at New York Harbour after the US Department of Homeland Security issued a low-level alert for New York’s ports earlier Tuesday, saying an intelligence source had warned of eight “diversionary” attacks throughout the state before a possible harbour attack.
The FBI agents are expanding their dragnet for a growing list of foreign-born men they believe may have entered the United States illegally from Canada in a false ID case’
The US officials, said on Tuesday night the government has identified several more men it fears may have used fake passports to get into the country around or after Christmas Eve.
Authorities identified five such men on Sunday and asked the public’s help in identifying them.
Police officers were in full force at the gatherings, but few disturbances were reported. In New York, sharpshooters were stationed on roofs, undercover officers mixed with the crowd, and some officers carried metal detectors.
But the crowd continued to dance and revel to the beat of dance music apparently the threat of terrorists attacks were not enough to drive them away from Times Square.
WASHINGTON REMAINED QUIET: The US Capital was quiet on the New Year eve while the rest of the world welcomed the year 2003 with fun and fireworks, Anwar Iqbal writes from Washington.
The streets of Washington were deserted, despite an unusually mild weather. The National Mall, where America celebrates most of its major events, was dark. Some fireworks went off in the old town Alexandria, and in nearby Baltimore but Washington ignored the celebrations.
Only a small group gathered at Sequoia, along the banks of the Potomac River, and wished each other a happy New Year by toasting champagne and releasing colourful balloons. But even this small gathering of less than 200 people worried the policemen present.
“We don’t want any problem in Washington,” said one of them when asked why there’re no celebrations in Washington.
Security concerns kept people indoor in the trendy George Town as well where even the weekend brings a sizable crowd.
The rumour that an unidentified aircraft flew over the White House, although denied by the authorities, added to the fear of a possible terrorist attack on the American Capital on the New Year eve. So people preferred to celebrate the evening indoor.
