New Orleans, United States:

The celebratory atmosphere of Bourbon Street in New Orleans, long an American byword for revelry and fun, was dampened on Wednesday when a deadly truck rampaged through New Year’s crowds, killing residents and visitors alike. But they got scared. Several square blocks of the central entertainment district were shut down after the attack, in which authorities said a US military veteran plowed a pickup truck into pedestrians, killing at least 15 people and leaving the city A teardrop is left in the middle known as the Big Easy. .

“We’re all desensitized,” Ken Williams, a Creole chef who grew up in New Orleans and moonlighted as a candy seller in the city’s usually bustling French Quarter, told AFP. told

The 65-year-old added that everyone is shocked by what happened. “Some people are trying to drink it — take away the fear, you know?”

Williams said he was lucky he left for home around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, about 90 minutes before the massacre began.

Dwayne Perkins, 22, decided to stay out late, and said he saw the truck speeding down Bourbon Street, leaving a path of destruction.

“If the police had been doing their job last night, this never would have happened,” said Perkins, who lives in New Orleans.

He advised the police force to allow a private vehicle to enter a pedestrian-only street during the celebrations.

How to deal with it later? “Drunken and drowned in pain” of the tragedy he witnessed.

The French Quarter is usually filled with revelers looking for live music and art galleries. It is also ground zero for the city’s debauched nightlife and has become a world-renowned center for wild partying.

New Year’s Eve was especially busy, as crowds were pumped up by sports fans to celebrate before the Sugar Bowl college football game, which began Wednesday night at the stadium known as the Superdome. was

Read this also “Horrified”: World leaders react to New Orleans attack that killed 15

Lives ‘at stake’

Tens of thousands of University of Notre Dame and University of Georgia fans flocked to the city, packing the streets and bars of the French Quarter ahead of the playoffs – which have now been postponed until Thursday night.

Sugar Bowl ticket holder Jill Davenport of Richmond, Virginia, told AFP that she and her family, fresh off seeing New Year’s fireworks, were walking through the French Quarter to see live music. .

“Frankly, better heads prevailed at 1:00 a.m.” and they went back to the hotel. “We are very fortunate that we made this decision,” he said.

“It seems we have more and more of these tragedies and it’s scary,” he said.

Davenport, 55, grieved for the families of those killed, but also expressed concern for breweries and other businesses that rely heavily on tourism.

“It has a huge economic impact on this city … for these restaurants and bars to suddenly close, it could be make or break for them.”

Still, the bars outside the roped-off blocks where the FBI was conducting its investigation were drawing customers. Football fans roamed the streets. An accordion player’s Zydeco music came alive in a nearby street.

A street musician, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said business had collapsed.

He said that at this time of the year we should make money. Instead, the crowd has thinned out.

Now he worries about his city, where he could never have imagined something like this deadly attack, “not in a million years.”

Williams, the chef, said New Orleans “will have to change” by dramatically expanding its security operations to host major events including Mardi Gras celebrations, Jazz Fest and the American football Super Bowl championship on Feb. 9. .

He said that the lives of many people are in danger.

(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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