Public safetyU.K. reviews security measures for large outdoor events
Amber Rudd, the new British home secretary, told the House of Commons that she has ordered a full review of the security measures taken to protect large outdoor events such as festivals and other public gatherings. The review comes in the wake of the attack in Nice on revelers celebrating Bastille Day. Rudd said that additional security measures will be put in place, including what is known as the “national barrier asset” when police assess that there is a risk of vehicle attacks.
Amber Rudd, the new British home secretary, told the House of Commons that she has ordered a full review of the security measures taken to protect large outdoor events such as festivals and other public gatherings. The review comes in the wake of the attack in Nice on revelers celebrating Bastille Day.
Rudd said that additional security measures will be put in place, including what is known as the “national barrier asset” when police assess that there is a risk of vehicle attacks.
Rudd said: “On Friday, following the attack in Nice, the police and the security and intelligence agencies took steps to review our own security measures and ensure that we have robust procedures in place, and I am receiving regular updates. All police forces have reviewed upcoming events taking place in their regions to ensure that security measures are appropriate and proportionate.
“I can also tell the house that the United Kingdom has considerable experience in managing and policing major events. Extra security measures are used at particularly high profile events, including — where the police assess there to be a risk of vehicle attacks — the deployment of measures known as the national barrier asset.
“This is made up of a range of temporary equipment – including security fences and gates – that enable the physical protection of sites.”
The Guardian notes that the temporary security barrier system has been used since 2004 to protect high-profile locations or events, such as conferences of political parties, from potential attacks involving the use of vehicles.
A modular, quick-to-assemble 9-foot-high fencing has been used to protect the London Olympics, NATO summits, and the French end of the Channel tunnel to prevent incursions.
In the Commons, Rudd’s condemnation of the Nice attack received cross-party support. Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham said: “Unlike other attacks, this one wasn’t planned by a cell with sophisticated tactics and weapons. A similar attack could be launched anywhere at any time, and that is what makes it so frightening, and so difficult to predict and prevent.”
Burnham urged Rudd to protect police budgets and called for a review of the Prevent program, which was designed to tackle radicalization but which, he said, was creating a climate of mistrust.
