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.
"It's a little scary, but at least it's keeping us safe," said Kim Miller, of Boston.
City officials have said there are no known, credible threats against New York following the deadly attacks in Paris and a video purportedly produced by the Islamic State group that contained footage of Times Square. But Police Commissioner William Bratton had said more than 2,500 officers would nevertheless be stationed along the parade route for the Thanksgiving festivities - the largest number of officers the department has ever assigned to the event.
The parade, in its 89th year, included marching bands and floats along with Hello Kitty, Snoopy, SpongeBob SquarePants and other giant balloons.
In St. Louis, a modest crowd gathered on an unseasonably warm morning for the annual Thanksgiving Day parade, which was canceled last year amid protests and widespread arrests over the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown and other police shootings.
The 2014 parade was supposed to be held several days after a St. Louis County grand jury decided to not indict former Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson, who is white, in Brown's death.
(China Daily 11/28/2015 page9)
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