Roundup: British police finish royal wedding security preparations

Roundup: British police finish royal wedding securitypreparations

London, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Security preparations for Friday' sroyal wedding of the oldest grandson of Britain's Queen Elizabeth IIto his university sweetheart are nearing completion.

The Metropolitan Police, which is the police force for London, isputting 5,000 officers on royal wedding duty on the day.

Chief Inspector Jessica Wadsworth told Xinhua Wednesday thatthere were no signs that the royal wedding was being targeted byterrorists, but the Met Police were taking no chances.

Inspector Wadsworth said, "For an event such as this we have puta meticulous plan into operation. What we have done since theengagement announcement 22 weeks ago is plan for this day andidentify any risks."

She added, "So we have put together a robust but flexible planthat can deal with any of those risks and mitigate against them --and that includes using the skills available to us, like firearmsofficers."

The Met Police had not identified any specific terrorist threatagainst Friday's wedding.

Inspector Wadsworth said, "As things stand there is no specificintelligence to say there will be a threat on the day, but of coursewe police every day against the backdrop of a terrorist threat inLondon and Friday is no different. So, part of our planning hasincluded contingencies against possible terrorist disruption."

Britain, and especially London, has got used to being a targetfor terrorists.

Britain currently has 10,000 soldiers fighting a war inAfghanistan, and was also criticized for its prominent role in theAmerican-led war in Iraq in 2003. The wars were controversial bothin Britain and abroad.

In July 2005, just one day after London was awarded the 2012Olympic Games, Islamic terrorists struck on London's tube trains andbuses, setting off four bombs and killing more than 50 people.

British police and security services are constantly on the alertfor potential terror attacks, particularly of prestigious targetslike the royal wedding. Next month United States president BarackObama pays a state visit to Britain, and security will once again betightened.

In 2012 Queen Elizabeth will celebrate 60 years as queen, and theOlympic Games follow only a little over a month afterwards, and bothevents will be tempting targets for terrorists.

In Britain's province of Northern Ireland, dissident Irishrepublican terrorists, calling themselves the Real IRA, have killeda policeman in the past few weeks and threatened further attacks.

In a bid to overthrow British rule and reunite Northern Irelandwith Ireland, they aim to rekindle the violence that blighted theprovince for decades until a political agreement was reached in1998, and an attack on the royal wedding would be tempting for them.

The British government's cuts in its budget spending have alsoseen demonstrators on the streets of London, with a march of 300,000 people a month ago organized by the TUC, the umbrellaorganization for trades unions.

The march was peaceful, but some left-wing and anarchist groupsused the opportunity to riot in London's main shopping district,smashing windows at several banks and at the Ritz Hotel.

The Met Police are prepared for spontaneous demonstrations onFriday from these groups.

Inspector Wadsworth said, "We are not naive to the fact that anevent like this would attract certain people who would want to maketheir mark on that day. We would say it is not a day for protest andas things stand there are no planned protests on that day."

She added, "We have planned for spontaneous protests, it would bewrong of us not to, and should anybody commit a crime in the guiseof protest we will be flexible but robust in dealing with thesepeople."

Commander Christine Jones, a Met Police spokesman, Wednesday tolda press conference that although British police were most often notarmed, some would be armed on the day.

Commander Jones added that there had been "considerable Internetchatter" about protests or attacks but no firm threats had beenidentified.

She told journalists that six people believed to be involved inviolence at the TUC-organized demonstration last month had beenarrested in the past week, and more arrests were expected before theroyal wedding.

In addition, up to 60 people currently on bail for variousoffences, some at demonstrations in London over recent months, havebeen banned from the area of the royal wedding on Friday.

The royal wedding procession will travel from Buckingham Palace,the home of Queen Elizabeth II, and the adjacent Clarence House,which is the home of her son the Prince of Wales and where PrinceWilliam will begin his wedding-day journey, to Westminster Abbeywhere the ceremony takes place. It's a distance of about 1.5kilometers.

Police will turn the procession route and the areas around itinto a security zone. The public will not be allowed on theprocessional route during the ceremony, but there will be hundredsof thousands watching the procession and in public areas next to itlike Green Park, Trafalgar Square and St James' Park.

Plain clothes policemen will mix with the crowds, theMetropolitan Police confirmed, and media have reported that armedmarksmen will be on rooftops in the area. In addition there are 1700serving soldiers taking part in the event, lining the route andacting as ceremonial escorts for the wedding parade.