Expect to see heightened security at Thursday's "Menorah in the D" ceremony
(CBS DETROIT) – Expect tighter security at Thursday's "Menorah in the D" ceremony at Detroit's Campus Martius.
Law enforcement is on high alert a day after FBI Director Christopher Wray says his agency is working around the clock to prevent potential attacks by Hamas or its sympathizers.
"I've never seen a time where all the threats – or so many of the threats – are all elevated all at exactly the same time," Wray said on Tuesday.
A new intelligence report reviewed by CBS News shows groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS will likely use the Israel-Hamas war to increase calls for violence.
"We have a criminal intelligence unit that works around the clock. They've been putting out bulletins every hour on the hour," said Detroit Police Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald.
Detroit police said while there's currently no credible threat anyone attending Thursday's celebration will go through one of three entrances equipped with a weapons detection system
"We're not slowing anything up. We'll have a very large police presence. We'll have a presence that you won't know about. We also have a large, private partnership security presence as well," Fitzgerald said.
In recent weeks, Metro Detroit has seen several pro-Palestinian rallies, so protesters will have a designated area outside of the event's fenced perimeter.
"Sometimes there's darkness in our life, sometimes personal darkness, sometimes from the world around us, sometimes it gets very dark. And the answer is we go up, and we light a candle, we light up a menorah. And every person that lights that candle and brings more light into the world by embracing someone by doing a good deed. By coming together as a community. We bring light into the world, and it dispels the darkness," Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov, vice president and executive director of Chabad Lubavitch of Michigan, said.
Organizers do plan to livestream the ceremony that begins at 5:30 p.m. For those who are planning to see it in person, they'll have to RSVP online.
