Quote:
Originally posted by Cowperson+Jul 17 2005, 08:36 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Cowperson @ Jul 17 2005, 08:36 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-kermitology@Jul 16 2005, 07:33 PM
My cousin was in London during the bombings, and having just spoken to him he had some interesting things to say about being there.
First, he was at Kings Cross, about 24 hours before the bombers and noticed a few things during the days before the attack. There seemed to be an increased police presence on the streets of London with officers carrying semi-automatic weapons, and strangely that there were no garbage cans around. Anything remotely resembling a garbage can was either removed or sealed. At one point after having something to eat him and a friend, on their way to the Tower of London, couldn't find anywhere to put their garbage. They stopped and asked a police officer where they could find somewhere to throw the stuff out and the officer told them they had to keep it with them. After explaining that the Tower of London probably wouldn't want them to have the garbage on them the officer took it from them.
Seems to me that the British tried to do something to prevent something centred around leaving a bomb in a garbage can or something of that ilk..
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We were at Kings Cross in late May - about five weeks before the attacks - and my wife asked an officer where a garbage can was and he said there wasn't any . . . . . well ahead of your experience.
Garbage cans, I think, were removed probably via the IRA experience. They're an obvious place to drop a bomb and their removal is probably a general precaution as opposed to anything specific to the recent attack.
There were also tons of police around the London as the Horse Guard were practicing in the streets for the Queens Birthday . . . . they were even firing cannons which created a loud and disturbing noise and had people pausing.
Cowperson [/b][/quote]
Cowperson's bang on - when I lived in London in 1991 there were no "rubbish bins" anywhere to be found due to the fact that the IRA liked to leave small packages of explosives in them. (And on top of this I lived across the street across from Penguin books after Solmon Rushdie published Satanic Verses and summarily had a fatwa placed on his head).
I would think the G8 would account for the ramped up security, and it turns out they needed it.
At work this week we were discussing a similar attack on Tokyo (as it seems a logical place to get hit next) and what can you do? You can't stop random foreign looking guys for no reason in train stations as consistently crowded as they are here in Tokyo, and if you wanted to bring some sarin, explosives or other stuff on the train there's very little you can do other than hope you're not involved in some way, shape or form.