The 130-year-old iconic suspension bridge and a romantic rendezvous for lovelorn New Yorkers and tourists from across the world could well be among potential threat targets marking the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. US officials said Friday they were investigating a detailed Al-Qaeda car bomb plot aimed at bridges and tunnels in and around New York or Washington DC. At a press conference, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared a high alert and said the city was stepping up bridge and tunnel security. Brooklyn bridge, which ferries thousands of New Yorkers and tourists every day, was apparently on the hit list of Al-Qaeda for long.
“Terrorists had received training in bridge destruction methods at camps in the Middle East,” according to classified documents pertaining to Guantanamo Bay, which were revealed a few months back.
On the ill-fated day in September 2001 when history’s most outrageous terror-attack brought down the iconic twin towers, the bridge on the East River enabled thousands of people flee the destruction at the World Trade Center, a few furlongs away. Years later, danger still lurks over the Brooklyn Bridge and so does romance! Right below its arching suspension cables, love blooms in all corners in the form of hundreds of locks gleaming in the evening sun.
Brooklyn Bridge, with its expansive arches and panoramic views, forms the perfect backdrop for the eternal romantics of New York and yes, as the ultimate symbol of love thanks to the growing love lock fad.
Hundreds of padlocks in various shapes and hues complete with lovers’ initials are anchored to the old iron railings, some to the corroding chairs and some more to the old stone walls of the suspension bridge, professing eternal love.
The custom apparently was inspired by a Roman practice that is thought to bring good luck to relationships. People etch their names on a padlock, lock it and throw the keys into the river as a symbol of togetherness forever.
“I guess this is a universal phenomenon. I’ve seen couples tie strands to trees in some places of worship in Asia praying for happiness and togetherness,” say a couple from Virginia on a stroll.
“There are similar lovelock tales in China, Korea, Russia and all over Europe,” concurs a tourist. While New Yorkers seem to embrace the fad in droves, the authorities are at their wit’s end. The bridge’s regular maintenance works includes the arduous job of dismantling the love locks. And much to their chagrin, new ones crop up in no time.
While many couples have walked arm-in-arm on the bridge on a first date, the Brooklyn Bridge also has seen relationships plunging to their end, literally. The bridge has seen more suicides than any other in the city. As another busy day nears its end and the 9/11 anniversary inches closer, visitors move under the watchful eyes of the police stationed on either ends of the bridge. Indeed, Brooklyn Bridge that connects the disparate domains of Brooklyn and Manhattan — the former a magnet for poor immigrants and ethnic groups and the latter the financial capital of the world — also seems to link the diverse emotions of love and hate. They mingle and hang thick in the air. Very uneasily.
