Picture taken from the MAC websiteExtremists belonging to the group Muslim Against Crusades were behind the poppy-burning outrage on November 11 last year.
According to police, they have now vowed to turn the wedding celebrations into a ‘nightmare’. They plan a ‘forceful demonstration’ with thousands of protesters set to burn the Union Flag, images of the Crown, and the bridal couple.
Police are anticipating violent clashes as the Right-wing English Defence League have given notice that they intend to protest against the Muslim hardliners.
Scotland Yard chiefs are also preparing for trouble from anarchist yobs. Sixty troublemakers charged with public order offences at past demonstrations have already been banned from the City of Westminster on the day as part of their bail conditions.
Officers are considering a series of ‘pre-emptive strikes’, which could see anarchists being hauled from their beds and arrested on the morning of the wedding.
Almost 5,000 Met officers will be deployed to combat disorder on April 29. Some are expected to rove around the West End to prevent a repeat of the TUC march trouble last month, when thugs attacked businesses and shops, laying siege to the Ritz hotel and Fortnum and Mason.
Scotland Yard has already rejected an application by Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) to stage a demonstration outside Westminster Abbey, but officers are still in discussions about demonstrations by the group elsewhere.
While police can ban any major protests along the royal procession route, they are powerless to stop ‘static’ protests at nearby locations.
Yesterday MAC warned that if Muslim protesters were kept away from the route there could be violence.
The group has placed a countdown to the wedding on its website, along with a picture of a burning Union Flag and Prince Harry with a swastika emblem.
Under the heading ‘Muslims to disrupt Royal Wedding’, a statement on the site read: ‘We strongly advise Prince William and his Nazi sympathiser to withdraw from the crusader British military and give up all affiliation to the tyrannical British Empire.
‘We promise that should they refuse, then the day which the nation has been dreaming of for so long will become a nightmare.’
Last month MAC extremist Emdadur Choudhury, 26, was fined £50 for burning poppies on the anniversary of Armistice Day. Other members of the group chanted ‘British soldiers burn in hell’ during the two-minute silence.
MAC spokesman Abu Abujandal said of the Royal Wedding: ‘We are expecting thousands of people to protest. We may burn the flag and the Crown. We will make models of the Royal couple and burn those.’
But Met Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens said flag burning will not be tolerated.
She said officers will use various stop and search powers to prevent missiles and weapons being brought to the celebrations.
Police are monitoring social networks for ‘chatter’ about the royal wedding and they are also liaising with the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, a police unit set up in 2006 to identify individuals who are obsessed with members of the royal family.
Miss Owens said the security picture for the big event was changing on a daily basis, with up to 80 VIPs requiring personal protection.
She said: ‘The current threat level is obviously severe. We have to be clear that anyone intending to come to London on the day of the royal wedding to commit criminal acts . . . we will act quickly, robustly and decisively so that it’s a happy event for everybody else.’
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