Festival Fringe barriers in bid to stop terrorists

Security measures being introduced in wake of UK attacks

Security barriers are being installed at Scotland’s biggest arts festival in the wake of terrorist attacks in London and Manchester.

The measures are being introduced during the Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe to prevent vehicles being driven into pedestrians.

Police Scotland’s Edinburgh division made the announcement on its Facebook page and says the barriers will be introduced over three weeks.

A police spokesman said: “Following recent attacks in London and Manchester, Police Scotland have been reviewing security arrangements for this year’s events with our partners, including the City of Edinburgh Council, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Edinburgh International Festival/Fringe.

“Following this review, Police Scotland, in collaboration with the City of Edinburgh Council, submitted a request for the deployment of the national barrier asset (NBA) at certain city-centre locations for the duration of the festival and fringe.

“The NBA is a temporary deployed system including high security gates, portals and barriers which are designed to prevent hostile vehicle attacks on key or busy crowded place locations.”

The Edinburgh division said there was “no specific intelligence” to suggest this year’s events are at risk from a terrorist attack.

It added the threat to the UK from terrorism remains at “severe”, which means an attack somewhere is “highly likely”.

Security measures including highsecurity gates, portals and barriers will be put in place after a review of visitor numbers in the city.