(Reuters) – Police in New York City said on Tuesday they were on a “heightened” security footing as Halloween revelers took to the streets at a time of tension over the Israel-Palestinian conflict, but they added that no specific, credible threats had been made.
In other large U.S. cities, where police departments have increased vigilance in recent weeks due to concern about terrorism or violent protests over the conflict in Gaza, officials reported few worries that Halloween would create additional threats.
Police in Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago said they were taking no special Halloween-related precautions and that no specific threats had been received.
Still, FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress on Tuesday that the war in Gaza has inspired the most significant terror threat against the U.S. since the rise of ISIS a decade ago.
“Right now we’re just in a different time, with the war in Israel,” New York City Police Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey told TV station Fox 5 on Monday. “We’ll be out there in a heightened posture.”
Maddrey said that “at this time there are no specific, credible threats.”
But he added, specifically on the Israel-Palestinian conflict: “We do see the tension, and there is a lot of hostility out there.”
With tens of thousands of revelers expected in Lower Manhattan for the 50th annual Halloween parade in Greenwich Village, Maddrey asked the public to have a heightened sense of awareness and immediately report to police anything they find suspicious.
He acknowledged that could be challenging, with hordes of parade-goers flocking to streets in ornate costumes.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Longmont, Colorado; Editing by David Gregorio)
