2012 London Olympic Games under terror threat from Irish Republican groups
By ANITuesday, February 15, 2011
LONDON - British Sports Minister, Jacquelin Magnay, has warned that the 2012 Olympic Games could be targeted by Irish Republican groups.
Speaking at the publication of the annual report on preparations for the Olympic Games, Robertson said that security agencies fear that groups based in Northern Ireland have become “a threat to the Games.”
“The security situation is uncertain. When we started talking about this two years out, nobody foresaw, for example, the rise in the threat of dissident Republicanism that they’re facing over the water in Ireland,” The Telegraph quoted Robertson, a former Army officer who served in Northern Ireland, as saying.
“There are constantly different elements coming in and out of the equation. There’s a greater understanding of the dynamic behind it. We have much more appreciation of what’s precisely required to keep the Games secure than we did 18 months ago,” he added.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the activities of Republican groups who reject the power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly, including the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and Oghlaigh na hEirean, the paper said. (ANI)
