威廉今日大婚 賓客將面臨嚴格安保檢查
It's not the type of welcome most wedding guests expect before they get into church — background checks, ID verification and a security sweep。
But then again, Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding on Friday is no ordinary affair。
Britain hasn't seen a royal wedding of this size since Prince Charles married Diana in 1981 — there were actually 200 more police on duty for that wedding, which had a longer procession route and a guest list of some 3,500 people, including foreign royals and heads of state。
Friday's wedding will offer much of the same pomp and circumstance with its 1,900 invited guests, but it also presents a modern security nightmare for the 5,000 U.K. police officers on duty。
A wide range of police will be on patrol for as the couple ties the knot Friday: officers on motorcycles, escort specialists, dog handlers, search officers, mounted police, protection officers and firearms units, although only a fraction of Britain's police officers are armed。
Thousands of people are expected along the parade route Friday, a snaking path of less than a mile from Westminster Abbey — an iconic cathedral near London's Big Ben and Parliament buildings — to Buckingham Palace, where the new royal couple will appear on the balcony for the anticipated kiss。
British police have special stop-and-search powers now if they think people in the crowds are carrying something suspicious. Some 60 people have already been banned from the parade route Friday and both uniformed and undercover officers will be in the crowds or on rooftops。
The wedding guests — kings and queens, sports and entertainment celebrities, charity workers and friends and family of the royals — will have their identification checked and go through a security screening before entering the abbey. Some of the guests have also gone through cursory background checks。
"They will go through a significant search regime," Commander Jones said。
Police said security around London's subway network will be boosted, while policing at Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, will be as normal。
Forecasters predict a 70 percent chance of rain Friday for London. The Meteorological Office says there will be a mix of showers and dry spells, a cool breeze and temperatures in the high teens Celsius (mid-60s Fahrenheit)。大多數參加婚禮的賓客都不希望在進教堂前受到如此接待——接受背景審查、身份認證，還有安全掃描。
話又說回來，威廉王子和凱特•米德爾頓在週五舉行的婚禮可不是尋常的事情。
自從1981年查爾斯王子和戴安娜的婚禮之後，英國就沒再舉行過如此盛大的皇室婚禮。婚禮現場的警衛人數會比戴妃婚禮多出200名，婚禮遊行路線也會更長。參加婚禮的賓客約有3500人，包括外國皇室成員和國家首腦。
參加週五婚禮的1900名受邀賓客將目睹和當年同樣的盛況和情景，不過如今這場婚禮的安保對於5000名英國當值警員來說，卻是一件棘手的事。
威廉和凱特在週五舉行婚禮之時，將出動各類警員四處巡視。有騎摩托車的警察、護衛專員、帶警犬的警員、搜尋員、騎警、安保官員，還有消防員。不過只有一小部分英國警員是荷槍實彈的。
預計週五將有成千上萬的人等候在婚禮遊行路線兩旁。遊行隊伍從威斯敏斯特大教堂出發，途經一條不到一英里的蜿蜒小道，而後到達白金漢宮。威斯敏斯特大教堂在倫敦的大本鐘和國會大廈附近，是英國的標誌性大教堂。皇室新人將在白金漢宮的陽臺重現“世紀之吻”。
如果英國警察認爲人羣中有攜帶可疑物件的人，他們將有特權對可疑人員進行攔截和搜查。目前已經有約60人被禁止在週五那天出現在遊行路線附近，到時穿制服的警察和便衣警察都會在人羣中或天台上巡邏。
婚禮的賓客，包括國王、皇后、體育界和娛樂界的名人、慈善工作者和皇室親友，都將經過身份認證並在進入大教堂前接受安全掃描。部分賓客還要接受簡短的背景審查。
瓊斯司令官說：“他們將經歷一番重要的搜查機制。”
警方說倫敦地鐵周圍的安保力量將會加強，而歐洲最繁忙的希思羅機場的安保配置將一切如常。
氣象預報員預測週五倫敦有70%的機率會下雨。氣象局稱，陣雨和晴天將交替出現，伴有涼風，氣溫會在16攝氏度到19攝氏度之間(華氏65度左右)。
