London 2012 the 'highest risk yet'



LONDON // As the British police struggled to contain demonstrators at last week's G20 summit in London last week, organisers of the 2012 Olympics picked up tips ahead of "probably the highest risk Games to be held". The London Games are expected to attract not only many world leaders but also 500,000 spectators a day and will act as a magnet for protest groups keen to publicise their message in front of a global television audience running into billions.

The G20 meeting of the world's most advanced and emerging economies was described by the city's Metropolitan Police as their "most complex and challenging" operation to date but it was all over in little more than 48 hours. The 2012 Games, lasting more than two weeks in July and August, are predicted to be Britain's biggest security peacetime operation. Organisers at police presentations were advised on managing public order, gathering intelligence, command and control, and protection.

Threats to recent Games have mainly involved domestic groups such as the Greek November 17 guerrilla organisation - dismantled just before Athens 2004. Britain faces a number of potential threats, one of the most high-profile being from al Qa'eda after the country's support of US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. London has been a victim of militants in the recent past. In July 2005, four young British Islamists carried out suicide bomb attacks killing 52 commuters on the capital's transport network, a day after the city was awarded the Games.

The country has since been on severe threat level, the second highest status. "The fact that we know that a potential attack could be imminent and that we have remained at a severe status level for a considerable period of time means that there is every risk that we [London] could be targeted," security expert Will Geddes, chief executive of International Corporate Protection (ICP), said. "At this particular time and moment we are probably the highest risk Olympic Games to be held."

Security experts have accused the government of not doing enough to protect the 14,000-plus athletes, the spectators and venues. A much-delayed interior ministry strategy report in February fuelled concerns that time was running out to build security elements into the venues' infrastructure. "The government's security statement was very broad in outline and did little to dispel the fear that London's security planning is behind schedule," said Hugh Robertson, an opposition Olympics spokesman.

The army, expected to provide specialist support, have also expressed concern about a lack of detail. "I would like to accelerate the decision-making so we know more precisely, not necessarily what areas we might be required to help in, but the scale," general David Richards, commander-in-chief of land forces, told a committee of lawmakers in January. It has not helped that the policeman who had been responsible for the early planning of Olympic security, Tarique Ghaffur, quit after a race discrimination row with his employer.

Security costs are not expected to exceed the US$895 million (Dh3.29bn) budget, the interior ministry said in February, despite some experts predicting costs will have to double. In London, up to 10,000 extra policemen will be on duty each day of the Games. Security measures will include CCTV, a secure tetra radio network and, according to media reports, special blast-proof material. Authorities are also working on biometric fingerprinting and smart ticketing. Other possible tools are airborne video surveillance, acoustic monitoring and automatic ID-recognition for people and vehicles, the media reports added.

* Reuters

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