George Herald | British government confirms extra troop deployment for Olympics

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British government confirms extra troop deployment for Olympics
13:04 (GMT+2), Thu, 12 July 2012

INTERNATIONAL NEWS - The British government confirmed Thursday that an additional 3,500 troops will be deployed to fill a security gap at the Olympic Games which are due to start in London in two weeks time.

The last-minute change to security requirements came after it emerged that private security firm G4S would have difficulty in providing the 10,000 staff it had been contracted to deploy.

Home Secretary Theresa May said in an emergency statement to parliament that the changes reflected the "flexibility" in contingency planning for security.

She said defence secretary Philip Hammond had authorized the extra deployment.

However, the opposition Labour Party said the extra troop deployment showed that the security plans were in disarray.

May said there would be "no question" that security would be compromised at the Games. She also revealed that there was currently "no specific threat" to the Games which are opened on July 27.

The changes mean that the number of military personnel deployed at the Games will rise to 17,000, from an overall security contingent of 23,700.Author: Anna Tomforde

Source : Sapa