UK to mount one of biggest security ops in history for Donald Trump's 'red carpet' visit

Donald Trump's state visit in September will see the biggest security operation ever mounted in Britain.

All leave has been cancelled ahead of the US president's September 17-19 visit with tens of thousands of extra officers set to be drafted in as the streets are flooded with uniformed officers.

The prospect of trouble was already significant after Mr Trump's decision to bomb Iran and his steadfast support for Israel in its fight against Hamas. The largest pro-Palestinian rallies in the world have been staged in London, some attracting more than 100,000 people.

That threat has now intensified after the Stop Trump Coalition promised to stage a vocal demonstration in the capital and in nearby Windsor for the duration of Mr Trump's visit.

The perfect storm has created a massive operational headache for the Metropolitan Police which will be responsible for covert and overt operations, preparations for which have been underway since February.

The massive security sweep will rival that staged for the state funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II almost exactly three years earlier. Then drains, phone boxes and bins were painstakingly searched by hand and sealed off.

It was the biggest security operation in British history with more than 500 world leaders and dignitaries flying into London.

Thousands of police officers were brought in to bolster numbers, including those with "specialist capabilities", with shifts extended and rest days cancelled.

Stop Trump Coalition spokeswoman Seema Syeda said: "This will be a massive protest against Trump's state visit.

"Trump and his authoritarian politics are not welcome here.

"Keir Starmer should not be rolling out the red carpet for Trump.

"They are already running scared. They have chosen the first possible date that stops Trump from being able to address Parliament.

"We know that Trump is deeply unpopular with the public. We mobilised hundreds of thousands of people against Trump during his first term, and he has only got worse since then.

"We are working at speed to bring together all the movements - for democracy, for equality, against climate change, for a free Palestine - to show our unity against Trump."

The group has confirmed its protest will assemble on the Embankment in central London at 2pm and march to a rally at a location to be confirmed at 5pm.

It also plans further demonstrations around Windsor Castle where Mr Trump and First Lady Melania will be hosted by King Charles and Queen Camilla, the highlight of which will be a state banquet.

The trip will be Mr Trump's second state visit to the UK - unprecedented for a US president.

His last in 2019 prompted thousands of people to turn out in protest and saw a 20ft inflatable effigy depicting the US president as an angry baby in a nappy clutching a mobile phone fly above Parliament Square.

Confirmation of planned demonstrations has put British security services and Mr Trump's secret service detail on high alert with the prospect of mayhem now almost certain.

The security operation will include the enforcement of no-fly zones, deployment of drone jamming technology, special forces on standby, hundreds of snipers on rooftops and thousands of undercover agents mingling among crowds.

It will be like nothing ever mounted before after Mr Trump survived two assassination attempts in the space of as many months last year.

In July the then the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for the presidential election escaped a shooter while speaking at an open-air campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, in images that has become some of the most iconc in recent memory.

Mr Trump was shot and wounded in his upper right ear by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks who fired eight rounds from an assault rifle from the roof of a nearby building. He also killed one audience member, firefighter Corey Comperatore, and critically injured two others.

Two months later he dodged an alleged assassination attempt while golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was spotted hiding in shrubbery while aiming a rifle at a member of his security detail.

Routh was later captured and charged with attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate. He pleaded not guilty and a preliminary trial date has been set for September 8, days before Mr Trump is due to touch down in the UK.