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President Bush Visits London Tuesday to Friday
Aired November 14, 2003 - 06:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is beginning a three- day state visit to Britain -- actually that's next week. Preparations are already under way, though, throughout the country for his stay. And in many cases, he will not get a welcome mat. Tens of thousands of Brits plan to take to the streets to protest the president's visit because of the war in Iraq. And with the huge protests in London come big security concerns -- how to protect President Bush as he meets and greets next week.
Let's head live to London and Robin Oakley.
So, how do you do that -- Robin?
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A big problem for London's police, Carol. All police leave in London has been cancelled. There will be 5,000 officers on the streets, more than we've ever had for any visiting leader, but they say they're determined to strike a balance between the right of the demonstrators to make their point and the protection of the president.
The worry, of course, is that if any demonstrations got out of hand -- this has occasionally happened in the past -- then that could be used as a cover by terrorists. Though London police say that London is on a high state of alert and the authorities have said for a long time that it is inevitable there will be a suicide attack at some stage in London, there is no specific threat associated with the president's visit.
But certainly he's going to face a bit of a shock in terms of the size of the demonstrators if he actually gets to see them. It depends how much the way is cleared for him and the streets are closed.
And public opinion is not very cheerful for the president in Britain, because they'll probably be choking over their breakfast at the White House if they look at the British polls. Twenty percent only support President Bush and what he's done in Iraq, 60 percent in another poll saying that they've less respect for America under President Bush's leadership -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Specifically, how big might the demonstrations be?
OAKLEY: It's always difficult to gauge that. The biggest demonstrations we've ever seen in Britain before the Iraq war, over a million turning out on the streets, not the usual kind of people that you see on demonstrations on that occasion. This time the Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Great Britain are talking about maybe 60,000 people on the streets, the police (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to quarrel with that estimate.
But until President Bush gets here, it's going to be very difficult to assess just how many of them will be and how many of them will get anywhere close to the president and to his entourage -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Robin Oakley reporting live from London this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired November 14, 2003 - 06:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is beginning a three- day state visit to Britain -- actually that's next week. Preparations are already under way, though, throughout the country for his stay. And in many cases, he will not get a welcome mat. Tens of thousands of Brits plan to take to the streets to protest the president's visit because of the war in Iraq. And with the huge protests in London come big security concerns -- how to protect President Bush as he meets and greets next week.
Let's head live to London and Robin Oakley.
So, how do you do that -- Robin?
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A big problem for London's police, Carol. All police leave in London has been cancelled. There will be 5,000 officers on the streets, more than we've ever had for any visiting leader, but they say they're determined to strike a balance between the right of the demonstrators to make their point and the protection of the president.
The worry, of course, is that if any demonstrations got out of hand -- this has occasionally happened in the past -- then that could be used as a cover by terrorists. Though London police say that London is on a high state of alert and the authorities have said for a long time that it is inevitable there will be a suicide attack at some stage in London, there is no specific threat associated with the president's visit.
But certainly he's going to face a bit of a shock in terms of the size of the demonstrators if he actually gets to see them. It depends how much the way is cleared for him and the streets are closed.
And public opinion is not very cheerful for the president in Britain, because they'll probably be choking over their breakfast at the White House if they look at the British polls. Twenty percent only support President Bush and what he's done in Iraq, 60 percent in another poll saying that they've less respect for America under President Bush's leadership -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Specifically, how big might the demonstrations be?
OAKLEY: It's always difficult to gauge that. The biggest demonstrations we've ever seen in Britain before the Iraq war, over a million turning out on the streets, not the usual kind of people that you see on demonstrations on that occasion. This time the Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Great Britain are talking about maybe 60,000 people on the streets, the police (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to quarrel with that estimate.
But until President Bush gets here, it's going to be very difficult to assess just how many of them will be and how many of them will get anywhere close to the president and to his entourage -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Robin Oakley reporting live from London this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
