Met Police Preparing 'Truly Immense Operation' For Queen's Funeral

The Queen's funeral will be the largest police operation ever undertaken in the UK.

The Metropolitan Police says it is preparing for a "truly immense operation of huge scale and complexity" on Monday.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said the scale of the police operation for the state funeral at Westminster Abbey cannot be compared to any other event in the history of policing in this country.

Hundreds of world leaders and VIPs will attend the funeral, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of members of the public who have come from all around the UK and the world to pay their respects.

The Met said the stabbing of two officers on Friday morning was not believed to be terror related and not related to the Queen's remembrance activities, but has brought a "sharp focus" to officers to remain vigilant.

DAC Cundy said that members of the public will be allowed to protest peacefully if they wish, following a series of controversial arrests earlier in the week.

He said: "All response will be proportionate and balanced, and we will only take action when it's absolutely necessary."

There have been 34 arrests so far for a range of offences - but none were for protest.

More than 20,000 officers have been involved in policing the Queen's remembrance activities so far, and the funeral will be a joint operation with Thames Valley Police as the Queen will be taken to Wellington Arch.

Specialist teams involved in the operation include escort riders, mounted branch carrying out patrols on horseback, firearms officers, dog teams and the marine unit.

The force has installed more than 22 miles (36km) of barriers in central London to control crowds and secure key areas.

Drones have been banned in central London under a "no fly zone" and 11 people have been spoken to by police for flying drones in the last week.

(c) Sky News 2022: Met Police preparing 'truly immense operation' for Queen's funeral