UK and US increase security following Ottawa shootings
Posted October 29, 2014 7:05 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Today marks exactly one week since a lone gunman stormed Parliament Hill, setting off a chain-reaction of events that is still having a ripple effect in cities around the world.
In the United States, measures are being taken at thousands of government buildings.
“Homeland Security officials are taking no chances. Those images from Canada’s Parliament are seared in their minds. It was hard evidence, they believe, that lone wolf radicals may heed social media calls from ISIS to attack government workers, politicians and police,” says Pierre Thomas, ABC’s Senior Justice Correspondent.
“Security will be stepped up at many of the 9500 federal buildings in Washington, DC and throughout the nation that see 1.4 million people walk through their doors every day. The bottom line, US officials say, is that so many Americans have gone to join radicals in Syria, they worry a sympathizer right here at home might try to do something.”
In London, very overt measures are being taken. Crowds of tourists watching the Changing of the Guard at Whitehall near Buckingham Palace are now also seeing heavily armed soldiers on the sidelines of the ceremony.
Security will also be high as the United Kingdom prepares for Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day ceremonies next month.
