NY parade takes place under tight security
US residents paused on Thursday to celebrate their blessings on Thanksgiving despite terrorism fears and racial tensions over fatal police shootings across the country. A record number of police officers patrolled the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, while St. Louis resumed its annual parade, canceled last year amid protests over the fatal police shooting of an unarmed young black man.
At the White House, President Barack Obama and his family had a traditional meal to mark the holiday, which traces its roots to a 1621 feast shared between English colonists known as the Pilgrims and Native Americans in present-day Massachusetts.
Spectators at the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York noted a stepped-up police presence, with officers perched on buildings like Radio City Music Hall and watching from helicopters hovering overhead.
