London police get set for demos

Next week's G20 summit will be one of the largest and most challenging operations British police have undertaken, a senior commander said on Thursday, with anarchists planning to disrupt the capital.

All police leave in the city has been suspended and businesses are being advised to cancel unnecessary meetings as the leaders of the world's largest economies meet in London on April 2 to tackle the economic and financial crisis.

Protests are being planned by groups as varied as anti-war campaigners, environmentalists and anti-globalization activists.

They plan to target locations in the financial heart of London, including the Bank of England, and near the ExCel centre in east London, where the G20 leaders, including US President Barack Obama, are to meet.

In the same week, police will have to handle a soccer World Cup qualifier and the traditional annual boat race between Oxford and Cambridge universities, when tens of thousands of spectators line the banks of the Thames river.

"It is fair to say that this is one of the largest, one of the most challenging, one of the most complicated operations we have had to deal with," Commander Simon O'Brien of the Metropolitan Police said on Thursday.

It is not clear how many protesters are expected. All of London's police forces will be involved, although O'Brien declined to specify how many police would actually be involved.

The terrorism threat level remains severe in Britain.

Reuters

(China Daily 03/28/2009 page11)