Commuters on New York subways will be subjected to random searches of backpacks and packages, New York police said last night.
The additional security measure comes after four small co-ordinated explosions hit London's bus and underground train network, injuring one person, exactly two weeks after bombers killed more than 50 people in the British capital.
Security on New York's transit system had already been stepped up since the July 7th bombings in London, when three subway trains and a bus were targeted by suicide bombers.
Stressing there was no new threat against the city's transit system, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters that the searches would take place mostly at subway stations and possibly as people board city buses. He said that no racial profiling will be allowed.
But Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said: "The Fourth Amendment prohibits police from conducting searches where there is no suspicion of criminal activity."
"One of the dangers of random searches is that they can invite the possibility of racial, ethnic or religious profiling," she said, adding that the plan would inconvenience people "as police go about finding a needle in a haystack".