NEW YORK (AFP) - New York City received a threat on Tuesday to its public schools but it was not deemed credible, the mayor said, hours after Los Angeles shut down its public school system over an unspecified threat.
"There is no credible threat to our children. We are absolutely convinced that our schools are safe," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference.
New York police chief Bill Bratton said the threat was "almost similar" to the one received by authorities in Los Angeles.
In tweets sent out by the New York Police Department, Bratton said: "We do not see that as a credible terrorist threat.
"These threats are made to promote fear... we can not allow us to raise the levels of fear.
"We are very comfortable that this is not a credible threat... concerned with people overreacting to it."
According to reports, he said the threat was judged to be non-credible because "Allah" in the message was not capitalised.
About Los Angeles, Bratton - who has served as police chief in Los Angeles - told the press briefing: "LA is a huge school system. To disrupt the daily schedules of half a million school children, their parents, day care, buses based on an anonymous e-mail, without consultation, if in fact, consultation did not occur with law enforcement authorities, I think it was a significant over-reaction."
