Eight months after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the London police are tackling a new major security challenge with “Golden Orb”, a major device for the coronation of Charles III.
After the arrest on Tuesday in front of Buckingham of a man who threw behind the gates of the palace what appears to be rifle cartridges, Scotland Yard wanted to reassure. “We debriefed our plans (for the coronation) to make sure there were no gaps,” Ade Adelekan, a London police official, told reporters on Wednesday. He said he was “convinced” that everything is in order three days before the celebrations.
29,000 officers mobilized
With hundreds of thousands of tourists and world leaders expected in London, the security operation is “one of the largest” run by London police, he claimed. More than 29,000 police, including reinforcements from all over the United Kingdom, are mobilized for operation “Golden Orb”, which began at the start of the week and lasts until Monday May 8.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, the London police said that on the day of the coronation (Saturday May 6), more than 9,000 police officers will be mobilized as well as 2,500 specialized officers.
“On Coronation Day, we will have the largest one-day mobilization of officers in decades, with just over 11,500 officers on duty,” Ade Adelekan said in a statement. Among them, many police officers will be posted along the procession. Others will be tasked with keeping VIPs safe or patrolling the crowd to spot any abnormal behavior.
Protests
The anti-monarchy group Republic said it intended to gather at least a thousand people to boo the king on Saturday in Trafalgar Square. If Ade Adelekan stressed that these demonstrations were “legal”, he affirmed that the police would intervene “quickly” if these mobilizations become “criminal”. “Our tolerance for any disruption, whether protest or otherwise, will be low,” he said.
Holding up an anti-monarchy sign is not a criminal act, he said, without drawing a clear line between what is protest and what is disruption.
The London police have a whole new legislative arsenal to intervene after the entry into force on Wednesday of the law on public order. Criticized up to the UN, this text gives new powers to the police to prevent “serious disturbances”.
Environmental activists, known in the United Kingdom for their punching actions, are particularly targeted by the text which notably provides for up to 12 months in prison for anyone blocking a road, a protest technique regularly used by these activists.
Facial recognition
London police also said they “intend to use facial recognition technology” to identify “persons whose presence would pose public protection concerns”. This includes “persons wanted for criminal offenses or subject to a warrant issued by the courts”, Scotland Yard said in a statement.
Civil liberties NGO Big Brother Watch lamented the use of an “authoritarian mass surveillance tool”, saying the technology remained unreliable. In addition, snipers will be posted on the roofs of central London. The sky will also be closely watched: no drones or planes are allowed to fly over central London on Saturday, except for security helicopters or authorized media.