Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Saturday 4 November 2017
After truck attack, NYC circles the wagons around marathon

By TOM HAYS and COLLEEN Islamic State group sup-
LONG porter “appears to have
Associated Press followed, almost exactly to
NEW YORK (AP) — In a city a T, the instructions ISIS has
shaken by its deadliest ter- put out in its social media
rorist attack since 9/11, channels,” said the NYPD’s
police are promising an top counterterrorism offi-
unprecedented security cial, John Miller.
effort to try to secure a soft An online Islamic State
target spanning five bor- group magazine posted
oughs and 26.2 miles: the last year extolled using
New York City Marathon. trucks to kill innocent vic-
City officials have sought tims, saying, “Vehicles are
to calm the nerves of more like knives, as they are ex-
than 50,000 runners and tremely easy to acquire.” It
huge crowds of onlookers also advised “surveying the
expected to line the mar- route for obstacles, such
athon route by insisting it as posts, signs, barriers,
will go off Sunday without humps, bus stops, dump-
a hitch only days after a sters, etc. which is impor-
truck attack killed eight tant for sidewalk-mounted
people in lower Manhat- attacks.”
tan. A New York City police office stands near the finish line of the New York City Marathon, in New Investigators say there’s
The security detail will in- York’s Central Park, Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. Associated Press evidence the suspect,
clude hundreds of ex- 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov,
tra uniformed patrol and lenge, even for a police and a thin plastic tape. Office of Emergency did reconnaissance be-
plainclothes officers, roving department with 35,000 of- The crowd is so big, run- Management and oth- fore driving a Home Depot
teams of counterterrorism ficers. ners start in waves, mean- er agencies will provide rental truck through an un-
commandos armed with The race starts in a relative- ing some people will still added security. Cuomo, a obstructed entry to a bike
heavy weapons, bomb- ly secure location. Runners be standing on the starting Democrat, said the state path in lower Manhattan
sniffing dogs and rooftop gather at Staten Island’s line while competitors in police will double the num- and mowing down cyclists
snipers poised to shoot if a Fort Wadsworth, a former the wheelchair division are ber of troopers posted at and pedestrians. A police
threat emerges. military installation now crossing the finish. high-profile locations, in- officer shot and wounded
The Police Department is partially occupied by the “It will be an extraordi- cluding Kennedy and La- Saipov before he was ar-
also turning to a tactic it U.S. Coast Guard. nary event, as it always is,” Guardia airports. rested and charged with
has used to protect Trump From there, though, the Mayor Bill de Blasio said this The attack Tuesday, on a supporting terrorism and
Tower and the Macy’s race heads through resi- week at a news confer- bicycle path miles from other federal counts.
Thanksgiving Day Parade: dential neighborhoods ence. “It will be well pro- the marathon route, was The shift away from sophis-
16-ton sanitation trucks with hundreds of spots tected, as it always is.” a grim reminder of how ticated large-scale attacks
filled with sand. The trucks, where an attacker could Police said they’ll use more the Islamic State group is like the one on the World
along with “blocker cars,” Trade Center’s twin tow-
will be positioned at key in- ers on Sept. 11, 2001, to
tersections to try and pre- smaller ones on soft targets
vent anyone from driving has forced law enforce-
onto the course. ment to become more ad-
Marathoners from around ept at how to prevent and
the world who have been respond to terrorism, said
streaming into the city in Karen Greenberg, director
anticipation of the race of Fordham Law School’s
expressed mixed feelings Center on National Secu-
about running so soon af- rity.
ter the carnage. “I don’t think people
“I can be really scared of should be worried,” Green-
it when I am at home and berg said. “The police
in front of the TV,” Anne- know what they are doing.
merel de Jongh, 28, of The Look at how few successful
Hague, Netherlands, said attacks there have been.”
Thursday as she picked up Safety adjustments made
her race number at a Man- by organizers of the New
hattan convention center. York City Marathon follow-
“But when I am running I ing the bombing of the
feel maybe a little bit invin- Boston Marathon in 2013
cible, like nothing can hap- — like banning backpacks
pen to me. I can run away A group of runners from Argentina pose for photos with their country’s flag, near the finish of the and costumes — remain
from it.” New York City Marathon, in New York’s Central Park, Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. Associated Press in place, said Chris Weiller,
The New York Police De- spokesman for New York
partment said it has no in- steer a vehicle onto the of the blocker vehicles for using its propaganda to Road Runners. Despite
formation pointing to any thickly packed course. the marathon than they’ve encourage radicalized widespread news reports
credible threat against the Streets leading to the ever used for any other “lone wolves” to cause and images of the trail of
race. course are closed, but event. harm with unsophisticated bodies left by the truck at-
There is no question, on many of them, in most Gov. Andrew Cuomo said means in easily accessible tack, the cancellation rate
though, that the course years, the only barrier is a the state police, the Na- settings. has remained about the
provides a security chal- blue, wooden sawhorse tional Guard, the state The attack by an alleged same, he said.q