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British Parliament mulls new anti-terror measures
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British Parliament mulls new anti-terror measures
Intelligence chiefs will recommend beefing up security at parliament to protect against possible terror attacks following a review sparked by a flour bomb attack on Tony Blair.
A House of Commons commission meet in private yesterday to debate security recommendations from the domestic security agency MI5 that media reports say could include plans for steel barriers around the parliamentary palace on the banks of the River Thames.
Security chiefs are believed to have been alarmed by parliament’s vulnerability to attack, which was spectacularly exposed in May when protesters threw flour-filled condoms into a packed debating chamber, hitting Blair on the shoulder.
Concrete blocks already separate parliament from main roads to protect against suicide bombers but officials are concerned the blocks could become lethal projectiles if a bomb were to go off, the BBC reported.
MI5 also raised concerns about the Big Ben clock tower, which could topple onto the House of Commons chamber if bombed, the BBC said.
Parliamentary officials slapped restrictions on taking guests into the Commons’ gallery immediately after the flour bomb attack, carried out by protesters from a divorced fathers’ rights group who had been admitted to a VIPs gallery.
The stunt raised fears that Blair could have been the victim of a chemical or biological attack.
A temporary security screen that separates the public gallery from the chamber will be replaced by a permanent screen.
Newspapers also said MI5 plans to deploy its intelligence agents around Britain, in areas where Islamist extremism is feared to be on the increase.
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