Police presence to ramp up in Melbourne after foiled terror plot
POLICE presence has been beefed up across the city for Christmas today following the foiled terror plot aimed at some of Melbourne’s busiest landmarks.
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POLICE presence across the city over the Christmas weekend has been beefed up following the foiled terror plot aimed at some of Melbourne’s busiest landmarks.
With thousands of people attending last night’s Carols by Candlelight, police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton has reassured the community the city is safe.
“There are a number of community events that are on right across the state through this period, both across the Christmas and the New Year period,” he said.
“Certainly, we have done the planning around making sure that while we were going to have an increased police presence, that is further beefed up. You’ll see a lot of police presence in the CBD, particularly through Christmas right through to the New Year period.”
Australia’s Test cricketers have welcomed the bolstered police presence for the Boxing Day Test.
Paceman Mitchell Starc said the players had been made aware of the situation and they were confident the team’s long-time security adviser, Frank Dimasi, would keep them out of harm’s way.
Starc said the players would “focus on the cricket”, comfortable the right security measures were in place.
“We know about it as a group,” he said. “We have some really good people around us, Frank Dimasi, it’s his 100th Test match, and he wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t good at what he does.”
Commissioner Ashton said there was no intelligence to suggest there was any threat to any of the major events.
“However, we’re just making sure we’re taking those extra precautions given what we’ve been dealing with over the last couple of weeks in relation to this group,” he said.
He had spoken to Cricket Australia to assure it additional security had been added to the Boxing Day Test.
Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said its security team had been in close contact with Victoria Police and Australian Federal Police, and would continue to monitor the situation before Monday’s Test.
“The safety and security of our fans, players and officials attending any cricket match is our number one priority,” Mr Sutherland said.
The MCC has urged the expected 55,000-60,000 spectators to arrive a few minutes earlier than planned on Boxing Day to cater for security checks at the gates, which will include standard bag checks and security wands.
A spokesman said the MCC had not yet been advised to add extra layers to its own security, on top of the increased police presence.
But MCC chiefs also remain in close contact with authorities and will make any adjustments required.