Police arrest 43 on wedding route

Royal wedding proceeds without disruption as police clamp down on potential protesters.

LONDON // Police detained more than 40 potential protesters yesterday, enabling the royal wedding to proceed without disruption.

Searches of people entering Trafalgar Square, where anarchists had planned to gather, thwarted all but a small anti-monarchist demonstration, while about a dozen masked protesters who congregated in Soho Square were contained by police.

A good-humoured "tea party" involving about 70 republicans went ahead in another London square under the watchful eye of police.

Nearly 100 known troublemakers had been made the subject of exclusion orders from the area while three people were arrested hours before the wedding, including a former university professor who lost his job two years ago after he was said to have organised violent demonstrations at the G20 summit in London.

They were accused of attempting to stage a mock execution of Prince Andrew during the procession and an effigy of the prince and a guillotine were seized from a car in south London by officers.

Two dozen people suspected of planning disruptions had been arrested in a series of raids on Thursday and 43 others were arrested yesterday among the crowds lining the route between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.

They were charged with a variety of offences from breach of the peace to being drunk and disorderly. One man was arrested on charges of possessing an offensive weapon, understood to have been a knife, while another was detained after a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted.

Police had identified as a major threat a planned protest by an extremist group called Muslims Against Crusades, which had threatened to turn the wedding into "a nightmare" and which had warned Princes William and Harry to "watch their backs". But 24 hours before the event, the group called off its action.

"It seems to have gone remarkably well," a senior police source said. "Our pre-emptive action and the identification of would-be troublemakers on the day seems to have effectively quashed any problems that a few people wanted to cause. As a result, tens of thousands of people in London have been able to enjoy the day."

Almost 5,000 police officers and 1,350 troops were on duty for the wedding. Crowds along the route were separated from the road by two sets of steel barriers several feet apart.

Scotland Yard, whose officers used enhanced stop-and-search powers to exclude potential agitators from the crowds that were estimated at 600,000 to one million, had appealed to the spectators to act as the police's "eyes and ears".

Sniffer dogs, rooftop snipers, rapid reaction squads of police, helicopters, patrol boats on the Thames and undercover officers formed part of the largest police operation that London has seen since the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana 30 years ago.

In addition, armed officers were assigned to about 80 of the VIP guests attending the wedding.

Threats from Muslim extremists, dissident Irish republican terrorists, anarchists and lone stalkers were all considered beforehand to pose real dangers to the wedding.

"The operation seems to have been a huge success," a police spokesman said yesterday. "It's all gone to plan so far. It's fantastic."