Case Studies

Security Sunday in London

by Mark Rowe

Sniffer dogs, bag searches and armed police were outside Wembley Stadium on Sunday afternoon for the World Cup qualifier between England and Lithuania, which England won 2-0.

Pictured is the north London stadium at entrance M before the 5pm kick-off, where visiting Lithuanian fans were being searched. A wreath was laid in the centre circle before kick-off by FA chairman Greg Clarke, Acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner Craig Mackey, Karen Bradley, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who said beforehand: “As football fans, we will stand together at Wembley to remember those who were killed or injured in Wednesday’s horrific attack to send a message around the world – that Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism.”

Police were also on high-profile reassurance patrols at tourist sites such as the South Kensington museums.

The Met Police confirmed that the terrorist attack carried out by Khalid Masood on Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, March 22 was over within 82 seconds. The Met is appealing for video or images showing the attack to be uploaded at http://www.ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk/.

Comments

The security services face an enormous challenge in preventing these types of terrorist attacks, said Raffaello Pantucci, Director of International Security Studies of the defence and security think-tank RUSI, itself based on Whitehall near the Westminster attack scene. For his viewpoint visit the RUSI website.

Meanwhile, Dr Rob Dover, Associate Professor in the University of Leicester’s School of History, Politics and International Relations has suggested that reporting of terrorist incidents could be placing UK leaders, police officers, and counter-terrorism officials in danger.

In an article for Think: Leicester, Dr Dover said: “Whilst the coverage of yesterday’s attack was shocking for the events that it so vividly catalogued, there were additional worrying dimensions to it that potentially further compromise the security of London. To place the leadership of the country in this kind of danger to fill a gap in the coverage, is unacceptable and needs to be addressed. I believe there should now be limits placed on aspects of the coverage, and in particular upon the reporting of the standard operational procedures around responding to terrorist events, and in terms of depicting the images of key counter-terrorism officials.”

Dr Simon Bennett, Director of the Civil Safety and Security Unit in Leicester’s School of Business, has commented on the threats terror attacks pose to freedom of speech and the rule of law.

Dr Bennett said: “”Yesterday’s terror attack symbolises two things. First, that free and open societies face a continuing and deadly threat from those who reject such basic human rights as freedom of speech, freedom of belief, freedom of expression, tolerance and the rule of law. Secondly, that stable democracies cannot be shaken. Given that Britain has defeated every attempt to destroy its ancient parliament, it should be obvious that a hate-filled man with a knife stands no chance.”

Dr Rob Dover’s full article for Think: Leicester, ‘Terrorism and the Responsibility of the Media’, is available here.

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