Some 5,000 police officers are deployed, all police leave cancelled

LONDON, November 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A historic visit, "unprecedented" security, extraordinary U.S. security demands and huge anti-war protests planned, U.S. President George Bush’s visit to London this week bears all these terms and a lot more.

Bush swoops into London Tuesday, November for the first-ever state visit to Britain by a U.S. leader. Despite an unprecedented security operation on the part of the British, anti-war protesters are determined to make Bush stay as miserable as they can.

Bush and his wife Laura will stay at Buckingham Palace until Friday as the personal guests of Queen Elizabeth II, who hosts no more than two state visits a year - the last one being by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June.

Bush will also have talks at Downing Street with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his staunchest ally in the Iraq conflict, enjoy a lavish state dinner, and hope for lots of photo opportunities as he aims for re-election next year, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

However, the prospect of massive street protests, and the nagging threat of “a terrorist incident”, is guaranteed to cast a shadow over the carefully choreographed celebration of the Anglo-American "special relationship".

Fueling the demonstrations will be the feeling of contempt that many Britons, like their European counterparts, feel for Bush.

A poll for the Times newspaper, published last Tuesday, indicated that half the British public think the strong personal relationship between Bush and Blair is bad for the country.

Fifty-nine percent also felt that the United States' standing in the world has fallen in the three years that Bush has been in the White House.

Blair knows that protests are liable to upstage the Bush visit, and in his annual Lord Mayor's Banquet foreign policy speech this past week he appealed to the demonstrators' reason.

"Attack the decision to go to war," he said, "though have the integrity to realize that without it, those Iraqis now tasting freedom would still be under the lash of Saddam (Hussein), his sons and their henchmen."

However, a YouGov poll in the Sunday Times suggested that few Britons were convinced Bush could deliver peace to Iraq. A majority of 70% thought there was little hope for the people of Iraq and that it would be a permanently unstable country, according to the BBC online news service Sunday, November 16.

Tens of thousands of protesters are expected out on the streets Thursday to protest Bush's visit, the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and Prime Minister Tony Blair's staunch backing for Bush in the crisis.

Stop the War, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Muslim Association of Britain have permission to hold a march Thursday ending in Trafalgar Square.

Bush is expected to face huge protests in London

But they are angry that, as negotiations with police continue, they have not been authorized to keep marching down Whitehall, the seat of the British government, and on to parliament.

Stop the War is planning a series of events, including an "alternative state procession" Tuesday, an evening of "poetry, protest and song" titled Tell Me Lies Wednesday, and a "National Stop Bush" demonstration Thursday.

That latter event is to include the toppling of a Bush effigy in Trafalgar Square in the same manner in which U.S. troops pulled down a Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad.

Trotter said police have "no intention" of saving Bush - who is campaigning for re-election next year - from the "embarrassment" of anti-war protesters.

"We have been under no pressure whatsoever to do so," he added, amid reports that the White House had sought to get a big chunk of central London closed down for the visit.

For his part, Bush says he won't be upset by demonstrators. "I admire a country which welcomes people to express their opinion," he told British journalists at the White House last week.

Tight Security

Meanwhile, security will be intense, and the traditional ride in a Victorian horse-drawn carriage down The Mall, the ceremonial route to Buckingham Palace, has reportedly been scrapped.

Some 5,000 police officers are being deployed, all police leave has been cancelled, and London is on high alert as the authorities pore over their tactics for the President's stay from Tuesday to Friday.

"We have to accept the circumstances around the event next week are unprecedented," said Sir John Stevens, head of London's Metropolitan Police.

"The security is unprecedented because one, the level of terrorism threat and two, the nature of the President's visit."

Asked if he was confident that Bush's trip would run without a hitch, Stevens simply replied: "I hope so."

Bush's security team is taking no chances: several hundred armed Secret Service bodyguards are set to surround the President, his wife Laura and their entourage.

"We will be using a whole range of tactics to deal with all possible threats," including the deployment of an unspecified number of armed police units, said Steven's deputy Andy Trotter.

Bush is expected to travel by helicopter where possible, and police marksmen are to be strategically posted on tall buildings.

Security Demands Refused

Blair is feeling the heat with Bush’s coming visit

In spite of the tight and unprecedented security measures already under way in the British capital, there has been reports about “extraordinary security demands by Washington that were turned down the British”.

British Home Secretary David Blunkett refused to grant diplomatic immunity to armed U.S. special agents and snipers traveling as part of Bush's entourage, according to British daily The Observer.

Consequently, should any of Bush’s protection team accidentally shoot a protester, they face justice in a British court as would any other visitor, the paper quoted the Home Office as confirming.

“The issue of immunity is one of a series of extraordinary U.S. demands turned down by Ministers and Downing Street during preparations for the Bush visit. These included the closure of the Tube network, the use of U.S. air force planes and helicopters and the shipping in of battlefield weaponry to use against rioters,” The Observer said.

“In return, the British authorities agreed numerous concessions, including the creation of a 'sterile zone' around the President with a series of road closures in central London and a security cordon keeping the public away from his cavalcade,” it added.