Police take
NEW Year revellers partied in style last night to see in 2018 despite a ring of steel thrown around major cities.
Record numbers of armed police were on the streets in the wake of four major terrorist attacks last year.
With Britain on heightened alert, specialist Army units were also on standby around the country. They are believed to include anti-terror SAS teams and bomb disposal experts.
Police stressed there was no specific threat but they were taking no chances following atrocities in London and Manchester this year.
Hundreds of thousands of people heading for central London for the firework spectacular were urged to be on their guard. Many travelling in by train had been hampered by rail strikes.
Big Ben’s famous bongs were set to ring out at midnight – it had been silenced for ongoing renovation work – before more than 10,000 fireworks lit up the sky in a 12-minute display.
Beforehand, Superintendent Nick Aldworth of Scotland Yard said: “There is no specific threat to this event. We ask people to remain vigilant and report anything suspicions.”
Security plans for London have been re-worked following the attacks on the capital in 2017 when vehicles were used as murder weapons.
Alert
In March, a lone-wolf fanatic killed four people and injured many more when he drove at speed across Westminster Bridge. The killer stabbed PC Keith Palmer to death inside the precincts of Parliament before he was shot dead by a Scotland Yard detective.
Three months later, a van mowed down and killed three people on London Bridge. Three men leapt from the vehicle and hacked five other victims to death before they were shot dead by armed police.
Apart from extra armed patrols, anti-terror vehicle barriers and more bag searches were features of security operations around the country.
Edinburgh, scene of one of the world’s biggest street parties, was on high alert as revellers gathered for traditional Hogmanay celebrations.
Chief Superintendent Kenny MacDonald, divisional commander for the city, said: “For this year, the main difference is we felt it was appropriate to have a more overt armed policing deployment, which I think the public would expect.
“People should not be alarmed by the presence of these professional and highly trained officers.”
He added: “They are being deployed purely as a precaution. There is no specific intelligence relating to a potential threat about a threat to either the torchlight procession or the street party. However the UK-wide threat level currently sits at severe, which means an attack is highly likely.”
New Year parties got under way in other major cities, including Manchester where 22 innocent victims were slaughtered by a terrorist bomb at the Ariana Grande concert in May.
Last year was one of the busiest on record for the Security Service (MI5) and counter-terror police units. The agencies were running at least 500 “live” inquiries on any day which could involve about 3,000 suspects. There were also roughly 20,000 “subjects of interest” to keep under scrutiny.
A security source said: “2017 was a big year and this year will be no different. Veterans in the field of counterterrorism say this threat could last for another two or three decades. Major security operations like those seen across Britain for New Year, involving many more armed police, will become a fact of life for people living in cities.”
Partygoers heading for London by train were hit by strike action, particularly to services in and out of Waterloo.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union on South Western Railway and CrossCountry walked out for 24 hours in protest at proposed changes to the role of guards on trains.
In September, an explosion on a Tube train at Parsons Green, west London, injured 30 people.
There was also an alleged terror attack in June outside a mosque in Finsbury Park, north London, which left one man dead.