London police make seventh arrest in terrorism probe - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - Police investigating a potential terrorist attack said they had arrested a seventh person, a 22-year-old woman, in east London on Saturday.
Police are on high alert ahead of the London Olympics but said the latest arrest and those of a woman and five men in London earlier this week were not linked to the Games.
All seven suspects have been held on "suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism", police said.
Britain has spent millions of pounds beefing up security in preparation for the Olympics.
Security chiefs have said repeatedly that they have no information that the Olympics are being targeted, but Jonathan Evans, head of the domestic intelligence agency MI5, has said the Games present an attractive target.
In a separate operation this week police arrested seven men on suspicion of terrorism after weapons were found in a vehicle stopped on a motorway in Yorkshire, northern England.
A police source said that in that case too, there was nothing to suggest any link with the Olympics, which start on July 27.
In both cases security sources have said the suspects were linked to militant Islamism, but that it remained unclear what was planned. The London suspects were arrested when their plotting was at an early stage, the sources added.
In a sign of heightened vigilance ahead of the Games, armed police closed the M6 motorway near Birmingham, in the Midlands, for four hours on Thursday after a man was reported acting suspiciously on a coach heading to London.
It later emerged the alert was caused by a passenger using an electronic cigarette.
Security authorities have assessed the national threat level at "substantial" - meaning that an attack is a strong possibility - but that is one level lower than it has been for most of the time since the July 7, 2005 suicide bomb attacks in London which killed 52 people.
(Reporting by Tim Castle; Editing by Tim Pearce)
London gay pride: Scaled back event begins - BBC News
BBC London's Nick Beake says there's been disappointment at the pared down event
A pared down version of London's gay World Pride event has taken place without the traditional floats.
Organisers said about 25,000 people took part in the march through central London.
There was a party in Trafalgar Square with performances from Boy George and R&B singer Deborah Cox.
Due to a funding shortage, the event did not include floats or a party in Soho. It is the 41st year there has been a gay pride march in London.
The procession started from Baker Street and followed the traditional route via Oxford Street and Regent Street to Whitehall.
Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who helped organise the first Gay Pride in Britain in 1972, said despite the setbacks surrounding this year's event, there had been a great atmosphere.
Pride London spokesman Uwern Jong said the procession was for the global advancement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
He said: "Forty-four members of the Commonwealth still criminalise homosexuality."
Board resignationLast week, Pride London, said it had been hard to secure money because of the economic climate.
On Wednesday, Tony Hughes, a long-standing board member, was announced as the organisation's new chairman, following the resignation of Patrick Williams.
A statement from Pride London said: "Dr Williams resigned from his position following criticism of the board's handling of World Pride 2012.
"The rest of the board remains unchanged and committed to delivering an event London can be proud of."
The hashtag #BorisSavePride had been created on Twitter to campaign for the mayor of London's support.
The mayor's office has provided funding of £100,000 for the event.
A spokesman said Boris Johnson would not be attending the event this year because of other commitments.
M4 motorway London to Heathrow section closed - BBC News
The normally congested motorway is now empty
The main motorway link from London to Heathrow Airport has been closed to all traffic after a crack was found in a "sensitive area" of the road structure.
The M4 is shut between junctions one and three and is not expected to reopen until Thursday morning.
Large vehicles were already banned from the elevated section, known as the Boston Manor Viaduct.
The Highways Agency said it expects all work to be finished before the start of the Olympic Games later this month.
The full closure of the motorway in both directions between Chiswick and Feltham began at 20:00 BST on Friday.
Vital routeRestrictions on vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes had been in place since March when hairline cracks were discovered in some of the steel beams.
“Start Quote
End Quote Jon Caldwell Highways AgencyWe need to do it now so that it's all completed ready for when the Olympic traffic starts”
The agency said on Friday workers "found a further crack in a sensitive location which requires us to keep the viaduct closed until the repair is complete".
Jon Caldwell from the Highways Agency warned there would be delays.
Diversions have been put in place along the A312 and the A4, and the A40 is expected to be congested as well.
"The repair works that we need to do, to bolt the plates to the decking, needs to be done with no traffic on it," Mr Caldwell told the BBC.
"We need to do it now so that it's all completed ready for when the Olympic traffic starts to use the road in a few weeks' time."
The M4 is the main route between Heathrow Airport and central London and will be vital for transporting visitors into the city for the Games.
It is also the major road link from London to the West Country and Wales, as well as being a heavily-used commuter route.
London Mayor Boris Johnson said it was vital the repairs were completed "as speedily as possible."
Just before Christmas, the Hammersmith Flyover - part of the same route in and out of the capital - was closed for five months after defects were found with its structure.
Click here for the latest London travel information.
London's Bloc festival shut down over crowd safety fears - NME
July 7, 2012 12:13
The festival site was evacuated in the early hours of this morning and today's events will not go ahead
Photo: PA Photos
Bloc 2012 was shut down in the early hours of this morning (July 7) over fears for crowd safety - before a headline set from Snoop Dogg could take place.
The electronic music festival, which had been taking place at the London Pleasure Gardens, will not go ahead today (July 7). A statement on the Bloc website reads: "By now everyone will have heard that Bloc 2012 was closed due to crowd safety concerns. We are all absolutely devastated that this happened, but the safety of everyone on site was paramount. Given the situation on the ground, we feel that it was the right decision to end the show early. Bloc will not open on Saturday 7th July so please don't come to the site. Stand by for full information on refunds."
In an earlier statement, London Pleasure Gardens confirmed that they acted on the advice of the Metropolitan Police and began a "controlled shut down" of the site at 00.45am this morning (July 7). Explaining their decision to evacuate the festival, organisers said: "Our number one concern is always public safety, and sometimes tough decisions need to be made by on-site security, but we always act as we believe is necessary at the time to best protect visitors."
He reported that, upon his arrival at the East London festival around 8pm, "There were plainly too many people and not enough security", which led to queues of up to two hours just to enter the site.
Inside the London Pleasure Gardens, scenes were even more chaotic. By around 9pm, every venue on the 60,000 square-metre site was surrounded by a huge queue. Two hours later, Pattison described the situation outside the Resident Advisor stage as "like a stampede". Around this time, the festival's main stage was shut down and word spread that a headline set from Snoop Dogg had been cancelled - although there was no official announcement from Bloc's organisers.
The other stages began closing down shortly afterwards, but in spite of the disappointment, Pattison reported that the crowd's reaction was "amazingly good-natured, considering". He witnessed a few angry exchanges with staff, but on the whole people were "pretty positive" and began to vacate the site as requested.
Today's second and final day of Bloc 2012 was due to include performances from Battles, Gary Numan, Ellen Allien and a headline set from Orbital. The annual festival, devoted to electronic music of all genres, began in 2007, but this is the first year that it has taken place in London.
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