Irish officials have banned onlookers from gathering in the streets outside the locations that Queen Elizabeth plans to visit including the Garden of Remembrance, Croke Park and the Phoenix Park.
Although President Barack Obama is planning to host a rally on O’Connell Street, there will be no mass audience for the Queens visits around the country due to concerns for her safety.
Senior police officials have stated that the Queen’s visit represents a much great security risk. The only Irish who will meet the Queen will be handpicked. These will included media veteran Gay Byrne, TV personality Amanda Brunker, Radio presenter Aidan Power, Lorraine Keane, model Erin O’Connor, Terry Wogan, cook Rachel Allen, Christy O’Connor Jr and Jack Charlton.
During some other foreign visits the Queen has been know to greet crowds with just a crowd-control barrier separating her from the public. However, in Ireland the streets surrounding the attractions which the Queen plans to visit will be sealed off and manned by riot police.
A security source told the Irish Times “It would be great if we could have her meet crowds, but you would nearly have to strip search people in the crowd she’d be meeting so it just isn’t possible.”
Police are hoping that the inability to access the locations where the Queen will visit will rule out any possible focal points for protesters.
On Sunday the Irish police will face their first possible order issue. The republican socialist group Eirigi have organized a sit in at the Garden of Remembrance, on Dublin’s Parnell Square. The group plans to occupy the garden until the Queen’s visit on Tuesday. It is likely that they will be removed by the police.
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