Public to meet over Olympic missiles

The first public meeting to discuss controversial plans to position surface-to-air missiles on residential flats during the Olympics will be held tomorrow.

Residents in Bow, East London, will be joined by local politicians and anti-war activists at the meeting, called by people opposed to any move to deploy missiles in the community.

Organisers claimed the Ministry of Defence had decided not to send anyone to the meeting.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "For the last four months, working alongside the police, the MoD has conducted a broad range of engagement in those areas where ground based air defence systems may be sited. We have organised a number of community engagement events at which we have endeavoured to answer all questions put to us by residents and address any concerns raised, and we continue to answer questions from residents by telephone and email.

"Should the Government give the go-ahead for ground-based air defence systems to be deployed for the duration of the Olympic Games, we will conduct further engagement with residents to update them."

PA