Three days before the coronation of Charles III and Camilla, the British authorities sought to reassure Wednesday about security after an arrest at Buckingham Palace, announcing the deployment of more than 10,000 police officers on Saturday.
Seventy years after Elizabeth II, the United Kingdom is preparing to crown its new king. Sign that the countdown has started, some of the biggest fans of the “royals” have started to settle on the Mall, the long avenue that starts from Buckingham.
Tens of thousands of people, Britons and tourists, are expected along the journey that Charles and Camilla will make in the carriage between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. About 2,300 people were invited to the ceremony, including a hundred heads of state.
Eight months after “London Bridge”, the code name of the precise operation of the funeral of Elizabeth II, the British police are rolling out “Golden Orb”, their device for the coronation of the king.
The ceremony, the culmination of three days of festivities, will give rise to “one of the most important security operations” that the United Kingdom has known, said Wednesday the Secretary of State for Security Tom Tugendhat .
“Our intelligence services and our other security forces are fully aware of the challenges we face and are ready to meet them, as the police did with flying colors” on Tuesday evening, he said.
Tuesday around 7:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT), a man was arrested in front of Buckingham, after having thrown several objects behind the gates of the palace, suspected of being rifle cartridges. This man also had a knife. But the police said they do not consider the case to be of a terrorist nature.
The king was not at the palace at the time, but he had received Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese there earlier in the day, for one of the many diplomatic meetings preceding his coronation.
Saturday, more than 11,500 members of the police force will be deployed, announced the London police. It will be “the largest one-day mobilization of police officers in decades”, said Ade Adelekan, a Scotland Yard official. Over a week, 29,000 officers will be deployed.
In central London, police will use facial recognition technology. Snipers will be posted on the roofs.
In addition to the terrorist risk, the police closely monitor climate activists, many in recent days in London, or anti-monarchy.
The group “Republic” has planned a demonstration in Trafalgar Square and along the procession on Saturday morning, for which the organizers expect more than a thousand people.
“Our tolerance for disturbances, demonstrations or otherwise, will be low,” warned the London police. “We will deal vigorously with anyone who intends to harm this celebration.”
Some 7,000 soldiers will take part in the procession between Buckingham and Westminster Abbey. It will be “a spectacle of glorious pageantry”, promised Edward William Fitzalan-Howard, responsible for the organization of the coronation, a position devolved for centuries to the bearer of the title of Duke of Norfolk.
The religious ceremony — the sovereign is head of the Church of England — will last two hours. “Now is a time to remember the pride we have in our great country and our unwritten Constitution that has served us so well for 1,000 years,” he said.
On their return to Buckingham, Charles and Camilla will wave to the crowd from the balcony. If Prince Harry, who left the country with a bang in 2020, will be present in Westminster, he will not appear on the balcony, according to British media.
A six-minute flypast will take place in the skies over London.
On Sunday, the British are invited to take part in the “Big lunch”, neighbors’ parties. And in the evening, 20,000 people will attend a concert on the lawn overlooking Windsor Castle, with the program Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, Take That in particular. Tom Cruise and Winnie the Pooh are also set to make an appearance.
03/05/2023 15:59:55 – London (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
