TIMES SQUARE, Manhattan (PIX11) -- Mayor Eric Adams said he is worried about a pro-Palestinian protest disrupting New Year's Eve festivities in Times Square.
He also said the NYPD is separately focusing on a concerning terror tactic.
The Adams administration said there have been 483 local protests since the terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, and the subsequent conflict between Israel and Hamas that followed.
Recently, most have been large affairs featuring thousands of people frustrated with the Israeli campaign in Gaza.
Christmas Day clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and police may have been a preview of New Year's Eve in Times Square.
Adams said the NYPD is planning to keep any protest separate from the celebration, much as it did during the Christmas tree lighting this year.
"The police department did an amazing job during the tree lighting to mitigate any form of major disruptions," Adams said. "They're going to do it again this new year."
Still, Adams feels officers policing protests are increasingly hamstrung by a court settlement struck in following the way the NYDPD policed Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020.
"Now you're seeing [the impact]," Adams said. "You see 1,000 people go to Grand Central Station and they want to close down Grand Central Station or sit in the street in front of Times Square."
The mayor also said the NYPD is increasingly focused on keeping officers spread out around and throughout the crowd and using technology. He said terrorists are increasingly using smaller secondary attacks or incidents to disguise their primary assault.
Finally, the Mayor underscored that officers need to be ready for anything. He pointed to the lone-wolf knife attack on officers last New Year's Eve. Adams said that the suspect was on nobody's radar.
Per usual the NYPD is expected to offer a full technical briefing later this week ahead of festivities.
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