Despite 'severe' terrorist threat, London police vow safe royal wedding

By Traci Watson, Special for USA TODAY

LONDON ? Despite a terrorist threat officially set at "severe," London police vowed Wednesday that the royal wedding would be a safe and peaceful event for both the wedding party and the thousands of spectators expected to pour into London to cheer Prince William and his new bride.

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  By Christopher Furlong, Getty Images

  Assad Ullah and other members of Muslims Against Crusades walk past Westminster Abbey with police officers on their way to a meeting at Scotland Yard in London. With only two days to go before the wedding, security checks and last -minute preparations are continuing around Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and along the route that Prince William and Catherine Middleton will take.

By Christopher Furlong, Getty Images

Assad Ullah and other members of Muslims Against Crusades walk past Westminster Abbey with police officers on their way to a meeting at Scotland Yard in London. With only two days to go before the wedding, security checks and last -minute preparations are continuing around Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and along the route that Prince William and Catherine Middleton will take.

Police have been planning the security operation ? expected to be one of the biggest in the modern history of London ? since the wedding date was announced. Some 5,000 London police officers will be deployed in the city center, along with sniffer dogs, police horses and members of the armed forces, said Christine Jones, a commander of London's Metropolitan Police.

The police are determined "that this event will pass off peacefully," Jones said. But though she "would so love to say nothing will go wrong ... nobody can ever predict what everyone (at the event) will do."

The terrorist threat in Britain has been set at "severe," the second-most serious level, for months because of the potential for attacks from Middle Eastern radicals and dissident Irish groups. But Jones played down the Internet "chatter" from anarchists and others interested in disrupting the wedding.

There has been "no change at all to the threat assessment in the United Kingdom from either domestic or international terrorism," Jones said. She said one individual ? whose identity has not been divulged ? has filed a formal application for a protest at the wedding. Muslims Against Crusades, a British group known for its provocative stunts, announced Wednesday that it was calling off a planned protest in front of the abbey.

Even so, the authorities are taking no chances. The 1,900 wedding guests ? including royalty and political leaders from around the world ? will be searched and their identities confirmed before they are allowed into Westminster Abbey, where the ceremony will take place. Undercover officers will spread through the crowds watching for trouble. And some of the police officers will be armed, a rare concession in a nation accustomed to unarmed officers.

Jones noted that the attention of the entire world would be focused on London Friday.

"Let's make sure it's focused on the dress," she said with a smile.

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