Police say the American flags that fly atop the two towers of the Brooklyn Bridge appeared to have been replaced with two white flags early Tuesday morning not long after several people could be seen walking across the iconic span.

"Those people will be of particular interest in this investigation," said John Miller, deputy commissioner of intelligence and counter-terrorism for the New York Police Department.

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© Andrew Gompert / European Pressphoto AgencyA New York Police Department helicopter flies past one of the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge, whose American flags had been replaced by white flags.

Miller said that about 3:10 a.m. Tuesday, a group of five or so people was seen crossing the bridge. Surveillance video shows that just after 3:30 a.m. the lamps that normally illuminate the flags, one atop each of the bridge's two towers, flickered and went dark, Miller said.

By 5:30 a.m., construction workers and some New Yorkers reported seeing the white flags flying.

Authorities arrived at the scene, some of them scaling the bridge to inspect the base of the flagpoles before the bleached-white American flags were removed and replaced again with the Stars and Stripes.
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© Andrew Gombert / European Pressphoto AgencyA red ladder leans against the flagpole atop one of the two towers of the Brooklyn Bridge, whose American flags were mysteriously replaced with white flags.
Miller said he was concerned that someone had been able to get past locked gates that restrict access to the towers and had apparently secured large metal pans over the lamps with zip ties, adding that the evidence indicated the swap was planned.

The motive for the act does not seem to be linked to terrorism, Miller said, but police are investigating.

"This may be somebody's art project or some attempt at making a statement, but at this time, it's not clear what that statement is," Miller said. "We don't take these things lightly or as a joke, or as art or within the realm of speech. These are issues of trespass."

The white flags, which typically symbolize military surrender, were still flying over the bridge at 11 a.m. Tuesday but were taken down soon after. Live video of the scene showed several uniformed individuals at the top of one of the towers, inspecting the area near the base of the flagpole.

In tweets from the scene, authorities appeared to have to scale the bridge to get to the flags and take them down.

The incident left Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams fuming. "If flying a white flag on the Brooklyn Bridge is someone's idea of a joke, I'm not laughing," Adams tweeted. "Political and social expression, whatever its message may be, has a place in our society, but not at the expense of others' security."

The Brooklyn Bridge is considered a high-profile location and has been under tight security since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. A man pleaded guilty in 2003 to plotting to destroy the bridge by severing its suspension cables. He ultimately concluded that the plan would not work because security was too tight, court records said.