NEW YORK -- Times Square, French consulates and sports stadiums got increased security Saturday after the Paris terror attacks. Authorities said the stepped-up patrols were out of an abundance of caution.
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European airport operators and airlines also beefed up security Saturday as concern about the attacks spread across the region.
Consulates in New York and Boston received extra security, as did French-owned sites in Washington.
"I think like all New Yorkers, we feel solidarity, we know how this feels. It hits home personally," said Ronnie De La Cruz, who was born in Paris but has lived in the United States since the 1960s. After leaving a floral tribute outside the French Consulate on Fifth Avenue, across from Central Park, he shrugged off any concerns about security.
"I think that certainly here in New York [it] is probably about as best as it can be," he said.
Sports-venue officials were mindful of security after Friday's Paris attacks, which included suicide bombings outside the Stade de France during a soccer match between France and Germany.
Guards at the Naval Academy's game Saturday against Southern Methodist University randomly selected people to screen with metal detectors, and fans were asked to unzip their coats before entering Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md.
Police in Los Angeles decided to add patrols for UCLA's game against Washington State at Rose Bowl Stadium and at a cricket match at Dodger Stadium.
The NFL said it had been in contact with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI and planned to increase security inside and outside stadiums today. League officials discouraged fans from carrying bags into the venues.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state police, National Guard and other agencies were on heightened alert. The New York Police Department deployed its "Critical Response Command" -- officers equipped with heavy weapons and other tactical equipment -- to locations that included transportation hubs and the Broadway theater district. Officers with radiation detectors and bomb-detecting equipment were sent to subway stations and were randomly conducting bag checks.
"This is not the kind of thing that is a wakeup call to New York City," John Miller, the department's deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said Saturday of the Paris attacks. "We've been awake about this for a long time."
In Washington, additional law enforcement officers were deployed to French-owned sites and other high-profile locations out of "an abundance of caution," said police spokesman Sean Hickman.
In Boston, the Massachusetts State Police said there was "a comprehensive and multilayered security package" in place at Logan International Airport and enhanced patrols near the statehouse.
There was no visible security increase at downtown Chicago's major transportation and tourist hubs, though police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said the Police Department was monitoring events in Paris and keeping in contact with federal law enforcement partners.
For air travelers in continental Europe, airlines -- including EasyJet PLC, Air France, British Airways, United, Delta and American -- offered passengers traveling to and from the French capital this weekend the option of delaying their journeys free of charge. Aeroports de Paris, which owns Charles de Gaulle airport, warned that passengers may face customs and immigration delays of up to 45 minutes at two of the airport's three terminals.
There were few instances of unease. Air France said one of its flights from Amsterdam's Schipol Airport had received a threat via Twitter. All passengers were taken off the plane, and authorities did a complete search of the aircraft and its luggage.
The north terminal at London's Gatwick Airport was evacuated for more than seven hours Saturday as police investigated the actions of a 41-year-old man from Vendome, France, who acted suspiciously and discarded something in a garbage bin. An explosives team was called in to investigate, and a suspected firearm was removed for examination.
"Given the events in Paris on Friday evening, there is heightened awareness around any such incident, and it is best that we treat the matter in all seriousness," said Detective Superintendent Nick May.
Heathrow Airport in London, Europe's busiest hub, said it was operating as usual. Eurostar, which runs rail service from the British capital to Paris and Brussels, also offered customers traveling Saturday the option of changing their bookings to later dates.
Information for this article was contributed by Frank Eltman, Jason Keyser, Jeff Baenen, Susan Haigh, Jessica Gresko, Brian Melley, David Ginsburg and Julie Walker of The Associated Press; and by Kari Lundgren of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 11/15/2015