Queues for Covid safety increase risk of terror attack, says peer

SOCIAL distancing in cafés and museums that results in long queues raises the risk of terror attacks, an independent review has warned.

Measures to reduce the transmission of Covid-19 lead to people congregating outside venues and “pavement socialising”, increasing the chance that they will be targeted in an atrocity, according to the report by Lord Harris, chairman of the Labour Peers’ Group in the House of Lords.

Queues outside cinemas and nightclubs, partly fuelled by vaccination pass checks, also increase the risk, said Lord Harris.

He made the observations in an independent review, requested by the Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, into how prepared the capital is to respond to a major terrorist incident, and how the pandemic might have affected this.

Discussing social distancing rules at hospitality and entertainment venues, the report said: “Hundreds of theatres, cinemas, nightclubs, museums and exhibition spaces regularly host significant numbers of people in their venues and entry to many often necessitates navigating lengthy queues.

“This means that the pavements and publicly accessible locations surrounding venues can become very crowded, exacerbated by the need to check not just people and bags but in some instances Covid-19 vaccination status.”

Addressing the introduction of outdoor seating for cafés, bars and restaurants, he said: “Pavement socialising, which of course is not new, can create crowds in public spaces, particularly where several adjacent outlets operate in this way, and this potentially risks creating targets for hostile vehicle and other types of terrorist attack.”

He also noted that schools and “cashstrapped” businesses are unlikely to be prioritising security as they reopen after repeated lockdowns, .

Instead, their focus is likely to be on maintaining “Covid-secure” premises so they can avoid any virus outbreaks, he said, adding: “There is a real risk that security will take second place as businesses desperately try to recover their losses from the pandemic.”

Lord Harris concluded that London will never be entirely safe from terror attacks, and extended periods of social isolation have increased the likelihood that potential victims of radicalisation are incited to commit violence.

However, he said the capital is better prepared now than it was five years ago, when a similar review was conducted.

Lord Harris made nearly 300 recommendations in his report. These included identifying CCTV blind spots at venues and on public transport, and for every primary and secondary school to have a named police liaison officer to help mitigate the threat of young people being drawn into extremism.

The UK’S terror threat currently stands at “substantial”, the middle level of five, meaning “an attack is likely”.