by William M. Reilly
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Lights flashed, sirens yelped, a blue and white police car stranded in the middle lane of traffic, and a motorcade it was escorting stuck behind it on New York City's Second Avenue on Tuesday as an articulated bus passed by.
It was the opening day of the annual UN General Assembly General Debate, and the progress on New York's Second Avenue on this "Gridlock Alert" day was locked, as many heads of state and government were trying to get to the UN Headquarters (UNHQ)located on the First Avenue.
Traffic was stymied as too many VIPs were trying to reach the same place at the same time, while commuters and truck drivers were on their daily routines.
Eventually, the police car wriggled out of its temporary trap to lead its motorcade into a run-around hard left-turn only to be blocked by a second lights-flashing motorcade, which was also stuck across the police car's path by other motorcades ahead of it.
A business suit-clad man wearing sunglasses and a radio earpiece quickly jumped out from the front passenger seat of a black SUV in the stalled second motorcade, an automatic rifle dangling from his shoulder as he stood on the running board and surveyed the situation.
It was not known who the convoy was for.
Other security officers joined him outside their vehicles, scanning from behind their dark glasses knots of people at the intersection.
Pedestrians trying to cross the path of the second motorcade were shooed away by plainclothes men, directed to cross further back in the convoy, and the cop trying to direct traffic was flummoxed. Nothing was moving. By this time even the bus couldn't move.
It was a moment sure to raise the blood pressure of those responsible for moving the global leaders into and out of the UN complex safely.
It didn't take but a couple of minutes and the second convoy got moving, with the armed men-in-suits deftly jumping back into their moving vehicles and their high-security passengers safe.
The first motorcade was allowed to cut across the dedicated bicycle and VIP lanes into the cross street.
Security officials at the world organization routinely refuse to discuss security plans for high-profile meetings but some of them become evident once the event gets under way.
There are city police officers on foot, on rooftops, on bicycles, on boats in the river adjacent to UNHQ, along with the U.S. Coast Guard, and at times even in the air, in helicopters.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration imposed temporary flight restrictions for general aviation and banned drones in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area until Sept. 29.
River traffic was diverted away from UNHQ, nearby streets were barricaded, and parking, including bicycles, was banned 24 hours a day on nearby streets and avenues in the area.
The First Avenue in front of the UN complex was closed and all regular traffic directed into a tunnel that itself was subject to closures. Buses were rerouted in the immediate area.
Pedestrian restrictions were put in place, even for residents, UN staffers and delegates.
Deliveries were slowed or banned during the high-level meetings.
However, not all businesses were complaining, especially coffee shops and the ubiquitous New York delicatessens. They welcomed the extra business from city, state, regional and federal police officers and federal agents, plus nearly 4,000 additional media representatives, including technicians.
Large sanitation trucks loaded with sand lumbered back and forth to block and unblock traffic at key checkpoints.
Video surveillance also has long been part of the security arsenal.
It might look like a frenzy in the mornings, unmatched in the evenings when most of the members of delegations tend to leave UNHQ following their leaders' speeches.
