Sugar Bowl continues in New Orleans after deadly attack

Fans from two American universities packed a stadium in New Orleans for a highly anticipated football game as the city recovers from a New Year’s Day attack.

The annual Sugar Bowl, which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, was postponed to Thursday at 3:00 p.m. local time (21:00 GMT) after a Texas man drove down a busy New Orleans street, killing 14 people .

People gathered at the stadium observed a moment of silence to remember the victims of Wednesday’s attack.

The game brought thousands of fans to the city to watch the University of Notre Dame take on the University of Georgia at the 70,000-seat Caesars Superdome.

Notre Dame’s “Fighting Irish” ultimately emerged victorious, beating the Georgia Bulldogs 23-10.

Before kickoff, Bourbon Street, where the attack took place on Wednesday, reopened its doors to the public for the first time since the deadly event.

Yellow barriers, designed to prevent cars from traveling on the sidewalk, lined both sides of the street.

Fourteen flowers were placed against a wall at the spot where the attacker first drove into the crowd.

Many of those who arrived had come to have a few drinks before heading to the stadium to watch the game, and almost all of them were wearing red for Georgia and green or blue and gold for Notre Dame.

When the street reopened, a Notre Dame football fan shouted, “Go fight the Irish! We love life! So let’s live!”

A New Orleans man who was released from the hospital Thursday afternoon after being caught up in the attack returned directly to Bourbon Street wearing the same clothes he was wearing on Jan. 1.

Speaking to the BBC, Jovon Miguel Bell lifted his shirt to show cuts and bruises on his torso, which he said were the result of being trampled.

“To be honest, I’m blessed. God is good,” he said. “Blessings to the victims and their families.”

Bell admitted he was “drunk as hell” at the time of the attack, but vaguely remembers what landed him in the hospital.

“I’m walking down the street and I hear the screaming. Commotion. Chaos,” he said. “As soon as I turned around, I was hit (by a person) and fell to the ground. I was stepped on several times.”

Now free from the hospital, he headed straight to the bars on Bourbon Street while the Sugar Bowl game was in progress, where he said he felt lucky to have escaped with minor injuries.

Before the game, state officials assured the public that the city had taken additional safety precautions.

Brian Williams, a Georgia fan, told the BBC that “the bad guys would have won” if the game had been canceled or postponed after the attack.

“No place will be safer now than New Orleans,” he said, pointing to a small group of state troopers on Bourbon Street. “There is nothing to worry about.”

Like other football fans who were in town to watch the game, Williams said the mood was somber when he arrived in town Wednesday morning.

“It felt bad. It felt weird being in the city and we couldn’t even get to Bourbon Street,” Williams said. “But this place will soon be back to normal.”

Master P, a New Orleans native rap singer whose full name is Percy Robert Miller, visited Bourbon Street on Thursday to assure a local resident that he would do everything he could to help the city recover.

“We have to show people that we are not going to stop. We are going to keep going,” he said. “Not even these evil things that came against us are going to stop us.”

Miller described the city as a city where people come to “celebrate” and described it as “our culture.”

Jefferson County Sheriff Joseph Lopinto told reporters Thursday that the college football game would be safe for fans who have come to town.

“It will probably be one of the safest places in the country,” Lopinto said. “If my son wanted to come to the game, I wouldn’t have any problems.”

As the sun set over Bourbon Street on Thursday, many locals said they were confident the vibrant area would recover quickly after the attack.

Among them was Darnell Simmons, a 23-year-old member of a marching band that played at the Bourbon House Oyster bar.

“Something terrible happened here,” he said. “But we are back, we are here to remember those we lost.”

Bar owner Dickie Brennan said he was “incredibly excited” to hear music return to Bourbon Street.

“We overcame Katrina. God knows how many hurricanes, oil spills, crime,” he added, referring to the 2005 hurricane that left more than 1,300 dead. “One man will not stop this beautiful city and this special neighborhood.”

“This city is resilient. We have to be.”

Shortly after 3 a.m. local time on Jan. 1, authorities say Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old army veteran, killed 14 people and injured dozens more when he drove a pickup truck into a crowd during the holiday. of New Year.

Before Jabbar was killed in a shootout with police during the attack, he had proclaimed his allegiance to the Islamic State group in videos posted to social media, according to the FBI.

The Sugar Bowl is watched by millions of Americans each year, traditionally on New Year’s Day.

The game, along with the Los Angeles Rose Bowl, is a major tourist attraction for the city.

The Sugar Bowl dates back to 1935 and has hosted many of the greatest coaches, players and teams in college football history.

The Super Bowl, America’s biggest sporting event, is scheduled for February 9 at the same New Orleans location as the Sugar Bowl.

Additional reporting by the BBC’s Anna Adams.