A senior counter-terrorism officer has urged the public to be alert during Christmas get-togethers as he identified Christmas markets as potential targets for terrorists. Scotland Yard’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist made the comment a few weeks after the terrorism threat level was raised from substantial to “severe”. Last month a bomb was detonated by a terror suspect in a taxi outside a hospital in Liverpool and another man was arrested in Essex on suspicion of the preparation or instigation of terrorist acts.
Mr Twist has urged people to come forward to report anything suspicious if they feel that something “does not feel right”.
A number of famous events, most notably Winterwonderland, are taking place again this year after they were all cancelled due to Covid 12 months ago.
He told GB News: “This is the first Christmas where lots of people are gonna be together.
“There’s lots of big events going on.
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“And we want people to go on and enjoy them.
“But we also know that the terrorism threat level has been raised to severe after the two awful attacks we’ve seen.
“One in Essex and one in Liverpool.
“We just want the public to be vigilant because an attack is highly likely. But that doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t go about carrying on their normal business.
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AC Jukes said: “The national threat level has moved from substantial to severe meaning that an attack is highly likely. What we have seen in the past is that when terrorist attacks take place in close succession there is an increased threat of a further attack.
“People get emboldened or encouraged by the earlier attacks. As tragically we have seen these threats exist all around the UK.
“We know that policing and other security responses will make a huge difference but it is also the preparedness of businesses that will do a huge amount to save lives. We have seen how members of staff instinctively or through training have known how to react when a terrorist act unfolds.
“We are in a festive period, the first that might feel more normal than the last couple of years at a time when we have 800 live investigations in counter-terrorism policing.
