Olympics: It is beginning to look as if the state has declared war on its citizens.

 

The previously unthinkable: a Starstreak high velocity missile system in Blackheath. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

 

With the Olympics less than a month away, small but noticeable changes are transforming London. Special signs in Olympic pink that guide visitors to venues have appeared, announcements at major London Underground stations have become multilingual and the first of the Olympics traffic lanes have been painted. More immediately disconcerting, however, is the appearance of Royal Military police in London. For those out in Leicester Square last Saturday night the Olympic-prompted mutual aid between the Metropolitan police's territorial support group and service personnel from the army and Royal Navy police was certainly a startling and confusing sight. It isn't every day you see patrols by officers in desert camouflage.

But beyond the unease generated by this development there are also concerns about how the use of these officers will play out in practice. Military personnel service police have statutory powers of arrest, but in the context of Olympics policing, their role will be to aid the police in dealing with the public. Here they officially have the same powers of citizen's arrest as anyone else does under section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984; yet, on their Saturday night patrol they were equipped with handcuffs – an article not typically afforded to even police community support officers.

With these service police seemingly emulating the look and role of a standard constable, it would be naive not to think of the tensions between the police and public that exist as the Olympics draw closer. Recent police racism revelations, the ongoing trial of Simon Harwood who is accused of killing Ian Tomlinson at the 2009 G20 demonstration and continuing investigations into deaths in police custody have all contributed to diminishing trust for the police in the eyes of the public. Yet while we are getting better at asking poignant questions about the role of police in light of these concerns, public conversations about racism, sexism, homophobia and other prejudices within the armed services has been much quieter.
One question that this immediately raises is of accountability. While we should not be quick to hold up the IPCC as a good example of holding police to account or fetishise what passes for police accountability, the deployment of service personnel without any mechanism for the public to make complaints to an independent body certainly worries. Lessons that have supposedly been learned from complaints against the police have taught us that it would be foolish to rely upon commanding officers to handle concerns raised about conduct of their officers.

This becomes even more of a concern when we consider that service personnel working with the police is just the beginning of the military's role at the Olympics. The Ministry of Defence will be providing 7,500 troops to Locog to provide security at venues. Moreover, it seems that while using the army to deal with the riots of last August was recognised as a threat to "policing by consent", a number of paratroopers have undergone public order training since and are ready for deployment during the Olympics. In the midst of concerns surrounding policing of public order situations, it should be unthinkable to use soldiers in this role. But just as it was once thought unthinkable to station missiles on top of apartments, it seems this could easily become reality.

That a Saturday night in central London, the Olympic Games or any other public space can come to look as if it was a militarised zone must disquiet more than the usual civil liberties campaigners. It tells us that something fundamental has changed when policing and military operations can come into such a "zone of indistinction", blurred beyond separation.

 It is beginning to look as if the state has declared war on its citizens.

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U.K.Police State:London 2012 - Olympic missile tenants in terrorist fear

 

 

Residents want an injunction preventing the siting of the missiles

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Council tenants have argued a plan to place surface-to-air missiles on their tower block during the Olympics could make them a terrorism target.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) rejected the claim, saying missile deployment as part of security measures for the Games was legitimate and proportionate.

Residents of Fred Wigg Tower in Leytonstone, east London, have applied for permission for a judicial review at the High Court.

A judgement is expected on Tuesday.

Top-level decision

The residents' barrister, Marc Willers, said their block could become the "focus of a terrorist attack" to make an "evil statement".

Mr Willers told Mr Justice Haddon-Cave: "It is the unprecedented siting of a military base or missile site in peace time on English soil that brings us to this court."

Of the residents, he said: "They have a fully justified fear that installation or deployment of the missile system on the roof of the Fred Wigg Tower gives rise to the additional risk that the tower itself may become the focus of a terrorist attack.

"That fear is not just genuine and legitimate but justified given the nature of the forthcoming occasion - the Olympic Games - and given the nature of the deployment and the current threat level, which is said to be substantial."

Mr Willers filed documents to the court calling for the residents to be moved out of their homes and compensated during the Olympics if the missiles are set up.

It has been suggested building a tower or gantry on Wanstead Flats to house the missiles.

Mr Willers also warned that part of the missile falls away when fired, claiming it could drop on to a passer-by or set a building on fire.....read more


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18765062

#Olympics: War On London.

With the Olympics less than a month away, small but noticeable changes are transforming London.

Special signs in Olympic pink that guide visitors to venues have appeared, announcements at major London Underground stations have become multilingual and the first of the Olympics traffic lanes have been painted.

More immediately disconcerting, however, is the appearance of Royal Military police in London. For those out in Leicester Square last Saturday night the Olympic-prompted mutual aid between the Metropolitan police's territorial support group and service personnel from the army and Royal Navy police was certainly a startling and confusing sight. It isn't every day you see patrols by officers in desert camouflage.

But beyond the unease generated by this development there are also concerns about how the use of these officers will play out in practice. Military personnel service police have statutory powers of arrest, but in the context of Olympics policing, their role will be to aid the police in dealing with the public.

Here they officially have the same powers of citizen's arrest as anyone else does under section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984; yet, on their Saturday night patrol they were equipped with handcuffs – an article not typically afforded to even police community support officers.

With these service police seemingly emulating the look and role of a standard constable, it would be naive not to think of the tensions between the police and public that exist as the Olympics draw closer.

Recent police racism revelations, the ongoing trial of Simon Harwood who is accused of killing Ian Tomlinson at the 2009 G20 demonstration and continuing investigations into deaths in police custody have all contributed to diminishing trust for the police in the eyes of the public.
Yet while we are getting better at asking poignant questions about the role of police in light of these concerns, public conversations about racism, sexism, homophobia and other prejudices within the armed services has been much quieter.

One question that this immediately raises is of accountability. While we should not be quick to hold up the IPCC as a good example of holding police to account or fetishise what passes for police accountability, the deployment of service personnel without any mechanism for the public to make complaints to an independent body certainly worries.

Lessons that have supposedly been learned from complaints against the police have taught us that it would be foolish to rely upon commanding officers to handle concerns raised about conduct of their officers.

This becomes even more of a concern when we consider that service personnel working with the police is just the beginning of the military's role at the Olympics. The Ministry of Defence will be providing 7,500 troops to Locog to provide security at venues........ read more


http://stopwar.org.uk/index.php/united-kingdom/1662-looks-like-for-the-olympics-the-state-has-declared-war-on-its-citizens

The U.K. plan to shoot down aircarft if  their airspace should be violated during the Olympics. However, it is not OK for Syria to shoot down aircraft that invade their airspace why she is under attack.Turkey pilots invaded Syrian airspace , now a proven fact. So whats the problem ? Double Standards !...more at link

Secret Olympics deal gives minister power to shoot down aircraft over London

Minister could order firing of missiles from Leytonstone flats after agreement with local council, army chief tells high court

• Richard Norton-Taylor
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 July 2012 17.02 BST

Residents protest against government plans to station missiles on the roof of the Fred Wigg Tower in Leytonstone. Photograph: Andrew Cowie/AFP/Getty Images

 

The defence secretary, Philip Hammond, could personally order missiles placed on top of a tower block in east London to shoot down an "unauthorised" aircraft approaching the Olympic Park following a secret agreement reached with the local council, one of the army's most senior officers has told the high court.

High-velocity missiles placed on the flats in Leytonstone amounted to "a goalkeeper system, as the last line of defence", according to General Sir Nick Parker, commander of UK land forces.

He revealed the nature of discussions within the cabinet and Waltham Forest council in evidence to the high court, where on Monday occupants of the flats will challenge the decision by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to deploy the missiles.

The Fred Wigg Tower in Leytonstone is one of six locations chosen by the MoD out of 100 sites in London for their suitability in meeting "technical and operational requirements", Parker disclosed.

He added: "Following the on-site evaluation and my review, officials entered into discussions with the landowners to secure rights to use and access sites. In respect of the FWT [Fred Wigg Tower], confidential discussions with the chief executive (and through him the leader and leading councillors) of the London Borough of Waltham Forest led them to agreeing to grant a lease [of the FWT roof], on 19 April."

Parker said the plan to site the missiles in residential and built up areas was unprecedented. The deployment was approved by the cabinet's Olympics committee, which is chaired by the prime minister.

Parker warned the high court of the "dire circumstances" in which the missiles would be called upon - namely, "where an unauthorised aircraft, possibly one that has been hijacked, is making a determined approach to the park and has evaded all other forms of air defence and efforts to divert it out of the restricted airspace".

He added: "In those circumstances, where the alternative if the aircraft is allowed to proceed could result in huge loss of life in the park, [the defence secretary] has made clear he would give the order to shoot down that aircraft.

"The ability to shoot down an airborne threat using HVM [high velocity missiles], in this location, provides further options to ministers, and means that more time would be available for such a momentous decision. Ministers have been assured that shooting down a plane in such circumstances would be lawful."


Martin Howe, the lawyer representing residents from 61 of the 108 occupied flats in the tower block, said on Friday: "It is astonishing that a secret deal was done with democratically elected council leaders and council officials, for the MoD to use the roof of the Fred Wigg Tower as a missile battery and place explosives over the heads of men, women and children, without any form of consultation with them.

"The residents of the Fred Wigg Tower recognise there is a need to protect the Olympic Games, and none of them are saying that there should be no security for the Games."

"Whilst many Londoners might be surprised at the pre-authorised decision to potentially shoot down rogue aircraft over one of the most densely populated cities in the world, the issues to be decided by the court are of significant importance to the residents in Leytonstone and other sites all over London".

#http://gu.com/p/38pct/tw 

Air Defense Systems To Be Deployed At Six Locations For London Olympics.

The British Government's sinister plot continues, to all intense and purposes the Olypmics is safe....except for the most vulnerable area of all, the theme park. . The theme park as  whistleblower  'Lee Hazledean'has already tried to tell the world and been ignored , is insecure as G4S very well know. In fact the media have informed 'Lee 'there is a complete media blackout on this subject , that they did not want to know so would he please just go away.  SEE LINK

http://olympicsredflag.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/olympics-whistleblower-fears-for-safety.html

The UK government has confirmed that ground-based air defense systems will be positioned at six locations in and around London during the Olympic Games. The missiles, which include rapier and high-velocity missile systems, will be in place from mid-July, the BBC reports. Helicopter carrier HMS Ocean will be moored in the River Thames. RAF Typhoon jets are expected to be stationed at RAF Northolt, and Puma helicopters in Ilford.

http://on.rt.com/pe3vtq #news

Olympics Whistleblower Fears For Safety. Reveals Identity -

 http://www.infowars.com/olympics-whistleblower-fears-for-safety-reveals-identity/

The undercover journalist who blew the whistle on G4S, the security company responsible for the 2012 Olympics, along with shocking plans for an evacuation of London, has revealed his identity following fears for his safety.

‘Lee Hazledean’ – the whistleblower who exposed how he had infiltrated G4S as an employee and uncovered how security preparations for the Olympics were so poor that they were inviting a terrorist attack, has revealed himself to be Ben Fellows, an acclaimed director who has worked with Stanley Kubrick. Fellows has also appeared in numerous popular television and theatre shows.

Fellows made the decision to reveal his identity, after having gone under a pseudonym for the purposes of radio interviews conducted over the last week, because of fears over his safety.

“With all sincerity I’m now afraid that I might be in physical danger from G4S,” Fellows told Infowars, adding that he feared the mainstream media was about to launch a character assassination campaign. “My only protection is to go public…. I have done nothing wrong and I stand by everything that I have said,” added Fellows.

Fellows also revealed that Andy Davies, Channel 4 News Home Affairs Correspondent, demanded that he retract statements made during a radio interview with BCFM’s Friday Drivetime in which Fellows said of Davies, “I sent him an email, I called, he wasn’t interested and he said there’s a media blackout on this kind of story, that nobody would be interested in running it.”....read more

Missiles,Drones,Bombs And Battleships. London Ready For The Olympics ?

Published on 1 Jul 2012 by RussiaToday

High-tech battleships and missiles are on stand-by to protect London during the upcoming Olympics. Some are concerned it looks more like war games than a sporting event. But as RT's Laura Smith explains, heavy weaponry may not be enough to tackle the real threat.

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