What is the Ring of Steel?
Q: What is the Ring of Steel?
A: The Ring of Steel is a security cordon around the City of London designed to prevent terrorism. It was created during the IRA 'troubles'.
Q: How does it work?
A: Roads entering the City are narrowed and have small chicanes to force drivers to slow down and be recorded by CCTV cameras. There may also be police armed with submachine guns, as well as concrete barriers, checkpoints and thousands of video cameras.
Q: When was it introduced?
A: The measures were introduced following a massive IRA bombing campaign in the City in the early 1990s such as the 1992 Baltic Exchange bombing and the 1993 Bishopsgate bombing.
Q: Where was it first used?
A: The city of Belfast was the first place to get a ring of steel.
Q: What materials are used for its construction?
A: Despite its name, "ring of steel", these roadblocks and chicanes are actually created with concrete blocks, sometimes plastic coated, that are wedged together.
Q: How has security been stepped up since 9/11 attacks?
A: Following September 11th attacks, security has been stepped up again with more businesses being included in the Ring of Steel and traffic being monitored and recorded at many places by an automatic number-plate recognition system (ANPR). This data is stored for five years for analysis and evidence.
