Foot traffic comes to a standstill downtown
Lower Manhattan streets are filled with people hours before the parade. Credit: Newsday/Robert Brodsky
Just after 6 a.m., the screening process for paradegoers is causing foot traffic to come to a standstill.
Wall-to-wall people at Fulton and Nassau streets were observed trying to get screened — still several blocks away from the viewing areas.
Confusion reigned and no information was immediately forthcoming.
At a Bowling Green checkpoint, police officers turned away two people who said they were going to work at Ellis Island.
"How are we supposed to get work?" one asked.
The workers showed their employee badges to police but were told they had to go north and through a checkpoint for the parade. They hurried off in a huff.
Frustration was mounting among paradegoers as light rain began to fall and the humidity grew under gray early morning skies.
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