Tourists carrying US flags, barricades closing off streets and police stationed on every corner. For Lower Manhattan, this was a Sunday morning charged with emotion and tension.

People who could not get close to the World Trade Center because of the security arrangements still wanted to be as near as they could be. “I needed to be here,” was a common sentiment.

About a dozen uniformed military police were gathered on Broadway before making their way to the ceremony for the families of those who died.