...By Judah Olanisebee for TDPel Media.
Protesters planning an unannounced action at the upcoming coronation of King Charles III in London, UK, could be mistaken for plotters who wish to cause harm, a security expert has warned.
Former royal protection officer, Simon Morgan, now director of operations at security firm Trojan Consultancy, advised demonstrators to be aware that they will be in the middle of an armed policing operation.
Morgan said that the procession route will be lined with thousands of police officers and that the police will have plain clothes colleagues mingling with members of the public.
He warned that demonstrators have to be very careful as to the environment that they’re going into, as the police are acutely aware of the potential risks they pose.
The security effort will involve covert operatives mingling with the crowd, road closures and vehicle barriers to reduce the risk of a Westminster Bridge-style attack, and searching anyone with a big bag or in unseasonal clothing to help stop a bomber.
There will also be expert armed squads waiting in case of serious incidents.
Police chiefs have to plan for various risk factors, including terror attacks and the threat from fixated individuals who are obsessed with certain people in the public eye.
Morgan added that police and security chiefs will have learned lessons from running operations around the Platinum Jubilee and the Queen’s funeral.
“The actual security effort is a mammoth tasking of epic proportions,” said Richard Aitch, director of operations at security services company Mobius International.
In addition to national intelligence work, the UK’s security services will have been monitoring “chatter” to disrupt any potential plots.
“All that information is being analysed, seeing what the chitter chatter is,” said Morgan.
“Who’s doing what, who says they’re going to do what, who has gone silent? You have a local and a national intelligence picture as well, which is obviously the work of MI5 here in the UK.
And then you get to the international picture and what the UK is also involved in at the moment globally, because that plays part of your risk assessment as well.”
