London residents lose battle against missiles on roof

PanARMENIAN.Net - London residents on Tuesday, July 10, lost their court battle to prevent the government placing surface-to-air missiles on the roof of their apartment block during the Olympics, AFP reports.

Residents of the Fred Wigg Tower, near the Olympic Park in east London, fear it could make them the target of a potential terrorist attack.

But a High Court judge ruled on Tuesday that the occupants of the 17-storey building, one of six sites where missiles will be stationed from mid-July until the end of the Games, did not have an arguable case.

Judge Charles Haddon-Cave said residents had expressed "shock, anxiety and worry" over the prospect of missiles being stationed at the tower, but had been under "something of a misapprehension" about the risks deployment would bring.

"It is clearly necessary to protect the Olympic Park from potential terrorist attack both from the air and the ground," he added.

"The first duty of government is to defend the realm and to protect national security, including by protecting the public from terrorist attack."

He agreed with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) that a tower block was an appropriate site to base missiles during the Games, which open on July 27.

The MoD welcomed the decision, saying the missiles were "an essential part of the multi-layered air security plan".

"We have always said we are planning for the worst-case scenario, not the most likely scenario," an MoD spokesman said.