Terror police warned not to abuse their powers during the 2012 Games
Police were today warned not to abuse their counter-terrrorism powers during the London Olympics as an official report into the arrest of six street cleaners during the Pope's visit was published.
The report, by the Government's terrorism watchdog, said the Met's high profile raid to detain the six North African Muslims in September last year was justified even though all were later released without charge.
The reason was that police had received intelligence stating that the men had talked about how it would be "wonderful" if the Pope was killed and about murdering Christians in revenge for a Koran-burning. One of the men also had the same name as a person arrested and released over the 2004 Madrid train bombing.
Another had just returned from Paris with his head shaved in an allegedly "radicalised" state.
The report, by David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of counter-terrorism legislation, says that although it subsequently emerged that there was "no reason" to believe there was any plot to kill the Pope, the lack of time available to police to investigate further meant arresting them was legitimate.
He warned, however, that with the London Olympics looming, and similar rumours of terrorist plots likely, police needed to exercise restraint to avoid misusing their powers.
"Rumours and reports of terrorist activity around particular events are likely to recur and indeed increase as we approach the Olympic Games, a target for terrorism in the past," he said.
"Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 does not require any specific terrorist offence to be suspected. Its use will provide a tempting riposte to such rumours and reports, particularly when a feared attack is imminent.
"Such exceptional powers however require exceptional vigilance in their exercise. It is not lawful to use the power purely out of caution."
Today's report says the street cleaners - five Algerians and one Sudanese - were also reported to police to have been studying a newspaper photo of the Popemobile and talked about how others would die in an attack even if the Pontiff's armoured vehicle protected him from harm.
Further information suggested that a close associate of one of the men had been arrested under the Terrorism Act a few months earlier.
The report says that although no evidence of a plot was subsequently uncovered, the police had only a few hours to act before the Pope's visit and thus acted reasonably.
