2012 summer olympics London has jitters over security

Associated Press

LONDON

Security jitters were being felt across the British capital on the eve of the London Olympics, with the biggest mall in Europe briefly evacuated Thursday and noticeable security changes in place at Olympic Park.

Prime Minister David Cameron said, however, that he was confident that the games that Britain has worked to produce for years will be successful and safe.

“You can never provide a 100 percent guarantee, but what I’ve seen, and what I’ve helped to coordinate is, I think, a fully joined-up effort that involves one of the best armed services anywhere in the world,” Cameron told reporters Thursday. “I’m confident we can deliver on that, working with visiting delegations as well.”

A fire alarm forced authorities briefly to clear the massive Westfield shopping mall beside Olympic Park on Thursday afternoon. Hundreds of people flooded into the street, a day before the opening ceremony to\day night at nearby Olympic Stadium.

Police allowed shoppers to return after a few minutes. Westfield mall authorities said the alarm was triggered in a restaurant area.

Fears of terrorism have been at the center of preparations for the London Olympics, and authorities twice have been forced to deploy more troops in the past two weeks — first an extra 3,500, then an additional 1,200 — when security arrangements fell short.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense also scrambled a Typhoon fighter jet Wednesday after an airplane lost contact with air-traffic controllers. Communications were restored quickly, and no further action was required.

Britain’s terror-threat level is at substantial, which means a terror attack is a strong possibility. It is a notch below severe, the level Britain has been at for most of the time since the 2005 suicide bombings when 52 people were killed in morning rush-hour attacks on London trains and buses.

One British security official told The Associated Press there was no existing intelligence to indicate the threat level would change immediately. Several terror suspects have been arrested in the past month, but none has been accused of plotting directly against the games. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Dozens of FBI agents and other U.S. personnel are helping their British counterparts secure the games.

At some Olympic Park security entrances Thursday, there was a noticeable shift from having military personnel man the airport-like security machines to having civilian security guards. At one entrance, an AP reporter put his bags through security, but the scanning machine that checks Olympic credentials was broken, and the staff waved him through.

The G4S security firm, responsible for the bulk of Olympic security, said Thursday it was getting hundreds more workers each day and hoped to replace some military personnel. Company spokesman Adam Mynott said many new workers had passed the accreditation process or completed training.

The hope, he said, is to numerically replace the extra military personnel.

The security firm was lambasted earlier this month by the government for failing to provide enough security personnel for the games.

Mynott said he would look into why the AP reporter’s credential wasn’t scanned but said the changes Thursday were routine station changes between civilian and military guards.

Still, both London residents and some visitors were on edge.

“It’s sunny, and I think a lot of people are really excited about the Olympics, but there’s also this sense of dread that something will happen,” said Tally Winfield, a 25-year-old London bartender.