“Fortress London” for Bush visit
A vast security operation is underway in London today as the capital prepares for the visit of US president George W Bush.
Threats from protesters and the possibility of terrorist attacks during the president’s state visit has led Scotland Yard to increase the scale of the £5 million police operation from 5,000 to 14,000 officers.
Police are also responding to a heightened terrorist threat from al-Qaeda.
Armed police are patrolling the streets and dozens of specialist firearms squads and other anti-terrorism units have been drafted in.
Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan Commissioner, said the security would be “unprecedented”.
“The bubble” – a ring of 700 of Mr Bush’s own secret service agents and security advisers – will also surround the president.
Mr Bush will spend three days in the UK, during which tens of thousands of protesters are expected to march through London.
Mr Bush is the first US president to have a state visit to the UK since Woodrow Wilson in 1918. He has been officially invited to Britain by the Queen and will stay at Buckingham Palace.
His engagements during his visit include a private welcome from Prince Charles when the president and his wife Laura touch down on British soil, a ceremonial welcome at Buckingham Palace, talks with Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street on Thursday and a visit to the prime minister’s constituency of Sedgefield in County Durham on Friday.
Despite the scale of security for the president’s visit, a 61-year-old grandmother managed to scale the gates of Buckingham Palace yesterday, where she hung the Stars and Stripes upside down.
Lindis Percy daubed the slogan “Elizabeth Windsor, George Bush is not welcome here” on the flag. She came down from the gates after two hours and was led away by police.
The Met has reached an agreement with anti-war group the Stop the War Coalition over the route of a protest march on Thursday afternoon. Marchers will cross Westminster Bridge, pass Parliament and walk up Whitehall for a rally in Trafalgar Square shortly after Mr Bush’s visits to Downing Street and Westminster Abbey.
