"Mayor Bloomberg apologized yesterday to a group of British tourists who were handcuffed and forced to kneel on a Broadway sidewalk [pictured] after cops swarmed a sightseeing bus."

According to the mayor, "It turned out that these... people did not present any threat whatsoever.... It's a shame, and I certainly apologize on behalf of the City of New York."

"The mayor urged New Yorkers to... avoid profiling people like the group of South Asian-looking visitors, who were Sikhs from Britain."

One of the Sikh tourists noted that the incident did not spoil his trip to New York: "We have no hard feelings. It certainly made our trip different, but didn't ruin it at all."

[Thanks to Sepia Mutiny for the picture]