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N.Y. Mayor Apologizes For Raid on Tourist Bus

NEW YORK, July 25 -- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (R) apologized Monday for an incident in which heavily armed police ordered 60 tourists off a sightseeing bus and detained them for 90 minutes while checking out what he called an erroneous report of five suspicious passengers with backpacks.

"While we say call the professionals, call 911 or 311" -- the emergency and non-emergency phones numbers -- "you also have to exercise some common sense," Bloomberg said at a news conference. "These half a dozen people did not present any threat whatsoever, and it's a shame, and I certainly apologize on behalf of the city."

New York increased police protection of transportation facilities after the London public transit bombings.

When a Gray Line Bus Tour supervisor reported that five men carrying stuffed backpacks had boarded a double-decker tourist bus, a police captain summoned the city's heavily armed Emergency Services Unit, Deputy Police Commissioner Paul J. Browne said. Police ordered riders to get off with their hands in the air, patted them down and searched their bags while 51st Street between Eighth and Broadway was cordoned off.

Officers briefly handcuffed the five South Asian men who had aroused the suspicion of bus company employees. They did not have backpacks, Browne said. "After we determined that no one on the bus constituted a threat, everybody was released," he said. "The responding officers showed the appropriate caution in light of the information and the situation."

Omigod! South Asian men, without backpacks. Or with backpacks. Or wearing raincoats. Or whatever. Call the police, they must be terrorists!!!!