- Daniel Sandford
- BBC domestic affairs correspondent
September 16, 2022
image source,Getty Images
Parade in front of the Bank of England: Traditional rituals mixed with modern weapons
London is undergoing its most complex security deployment yet.
The Queen’s coffin will be seen by the public ahead of her state funeral, with a steady stream of people pouring into London.
Ahead of the Queen’s funeral on Monday (September 19), many heads of the world, including the Emperor of Japan, some kings and queens, the President of the United States, will gather in London. They will all head to Westminster Abbey for the funeral, which has no permanent security boundaries.
Television viewers around the world will be able to see details of the funerals held there, which will also be targeted by international terrorists.
This requires scaling up the security response to an unprecedented scale. MI5 and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), which oversees the surveillance, work closely behind the scenes with counter-terrorism police, the London Metropolitan Police also receives police support from elsewhere in the UK, and military and non-military managers also play a role.
Crowds waiting to pay their respects to the Queen’s coffin lined up from Lambeth Bridge (Lambeth Bridge) on the Thames all the way to the South Bank (South Bank), making it the least secure environment. Long queues were there all night long until Monday morning.
As the first line of defense once morest terrorist threats, the police ask the public to report any suspicious signs immediately by being on alert, looking out for one another, trusting their instincts.
The government hired hundreds of managers from private security companies to help keep public queues in order. Some 1,500 troops have been deployed since Tuesday night, including Gurkha fighters and paratroopers, Royal Navy Gendarmerie and Royal Gendarmerie, Royal Air Force officers and men in blue-grey uniforms. There is also a military “Lynx” helicopter patrolling over the Westminster area.
The security agency MI5 has been monitoring behind the scenes for any suspicious behavior known as “points of interest” and those suspected of involvement in violent extremism and terrorism. Government surveillance agencies have also been monitoring all forms of communications. Armed police with binoculars can already be seen on the roofs of buildings in the Westminster area.
image source,NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Armed police visible on rooftops in central London
Watching the queues are police specialists specially trained to screen suspected terrorists trying to carry out terrorist attacks. At the main police surveillance centre, just south of Lambeth Bridge, officers were checking footage from a large number of surveillance cameras on the street. In addition, more cameras and mobile cameras have been deployed in locations that are easy to be attacked and in some blind spots for camera surveillance. In the crowd, specially trained security dogs were used to search for explosives and firearms.
Thousands of police officers are on duty in central London every day, but the London Metropolitan Police emphasises that they have manpower support from police in other areas. They don’t want to live in London where people think the police have stopped their day-to-day policing.
In this arrangement, known as “mutual aid”, the Metropolitan Police has seconded hundreds of officers from outside London – some from as far away as Scotland and Northern Ireland. It was part of a long-running arrangement of national mobilizations for the Queen’s funeral, which included professional police officers in various fields. Explosives-hunting dog teams from West Yorkshire and Lancashire, for example, have been patrolling the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace this week.
The Metropolitan Police would like to stress that, while this is an unprecedented security operation, many of the specific policing elements in it are not unfamiliar to their officers.
‘Lone Wolf’ Attack Threat
“In all policing activities in London, we take into account the threat of terrorism, the threat of crime, while looking following public safety,” said Stuart Cundy, deputy assistant commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police. The event is unique but familiar to us and the police are well trained and experienced in policing at such a large event.”
This week’s security operations are on a scale comparable to the last London Olympics. But during the 2012 Olympics, the public spent a lot of time in competition venues, where they had to queue to go through security. During the visit to the Queen’s Coffin, the security check was only set up at the entrance of Westminster Hall, and the public had to queue for a long time to get there.
Similar events to Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral were the funeral of the Queen’s mother, the Queen Mother, and Princess Diana’s, but this time a particularly large number of foreign heads of state came to London, complicating the arrangements for the Queen’s funeral.
Threats are also different. Attacks known as “lone wolves”, using cars as weapons or using knives that can be purchased in supermarkets, have occurred several times over the past decade.
Foreign leaders began arriving in London on Friday. Among them are Emperor Naruhito of Japan, kings and queens of some European countries, Tonga, Bhutan, Qatar and other countries, and presidents and prime ministers of dozens of countries. Among them, US President Biden and Israeli President Herzog are high-risk targets, and the security agencies of these countries have their own concerns.
Stuart Candy said their police force was “accustomed to working with teams in other countries around the world protecting dignitaries”.
image source,EPA
Police inspect the coffin transfer route near Westminster Hall
Leaders attended a reception hosted by the King at Buckingham Palace on Sunday night. They will travel to Westminster Abbey for the funeral on Monday morning. At first the police wanted all dignitaries to use transport provided by the British government to get to the funeral, but this plan has now been revised. President Biden is allowed to use their own bulletproof sedan dubbed “The Beast,” and some other heads of state also use their own vehicles.
A large area around Westminster Abbey will be put on alert ahead of the funeral. All the manhole covers on the street were opened, checked and sealed. Every pole was opened and inspected. Anything that might hide a homemade explosive device needs to be checked. Explosive hunting dogs will enter Westminster and the surrounding area to conduct repeated searches.
On the morning of the funeral, more police will be deployed on top of nearby buildings to monitor. Police officers with guns were also secretly deployed in various parts of the security zone. At the same time, the British Army’s special forces are also on standby.
Anti-monarchy protests
Heads of state usually gather in particularly high-security settings, such as the headquarters of the United Nations General Assembly, but this time the Queen’s funeral was a public event. It was an event for the public to experience and witness, and the British royal family also appeared in front of the public. This greatly increases the difficulty of security.
The former commander of the Metropolitan Police, Bob Broadhurst, was in charge of security for the London Olympics. “Ceremonies and security are a pair of contradictions,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s any other big power in the world that would allow that to happen.”
Police have already faced an unexpected problem following the Queen’s death, anti-monarchy protests, with protesters chanting slogans such as “(he) is not my king” at royal ceremonies. Several people have been arrested and two have been charged by the police.
The National Council of Chief Constables has since issued a guide to officers on how to balance the right to protest with the right to express grief and silence, although it has not been made public.
Paul Powlesland was standing outside parliament with a blank piece of paper on Monday when officers approached him to register his profile. Powersland is a lawyer known for his protests outside parliament.
After the new guidelines were released, Powersland and 30 others were back outside parliament on Tuesday to see how police responded to their actions. He held up a sign that read “(He) is not my king,” which he said was treated differently this time. No one interfered with him.
“It appears that the media outrage and public backlash caused by the police’s draconian actions are now having an effect,” Powersland said.
This shows the need to remain sensitive even as the police conduct large and intricate security operations.
