Olympics missiles plan for city flats

The Army is to station soldiers and high velocity surface-to-air missiles above a block of residential flats to ward off any airborne terror threats during the Olympics.

Residents in the private, gated flats in Bow, east London, have received a leaflet warning them that a team of 10 soldiers and police will be stationed at the building - home to 700 people – for the duration of the Games.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) leaflet says the missiles will only be fired as a last resort, said resident Brian Whelan, a journalist.

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He said: “They are going to have a test run next week, putting high velocity missiles on the roof just above our apartment and on the back of it they’re stationing police and military in the tower of the building for two months.

“It’s a private, gated community with an old watch tower which is now a lift shaft.

“We have an MoD leaflet saying the building is the only suitable place in the area.

“It says there will be 10 officers plus police present 24/7.

“I’m not sure if they are going to live in the building.

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“We have a gym and a pool and people have seen them there so it makes you think it will be some sort of Army base – it’s not ideal.”

He said the property management company put up posters and gave out the leaflets about the plan on Friday. The general tone of it all was ‘Great news, aren’t we lucky’, but that’s not normal, it’s not something people should have put on them.

“I’ve looked these (the missiles) up and I don’t think they’re the kind of thing you can fire over a highly populated area like Tower Hamlets, think of the debris.”

Mr Whelan said the leaflet poses a series of questions residents might ask, such as: “Will this make me a target for terrorists?”

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It was unclear who was responsible for liaising with the residents, but it is understood the MoD and the Metropolitan Police were working together with community groups over the issue.

An MoD spokesman said the site was chosen based on military advice but no final decision on deployment had been taken.

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