Manchester attack: UK threat level reduced from critical to severe – as it happened

• The UK’s terrorism threat level has been reduced from critical to severe after the arrest of 11 suspects in the investigation into Monday’s bombing of a pop concert in Manchester. This means that the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre no longer believes that an attack is imminent; instead they think it is now just highly likely.
  
• The announcement was made by Theresa May on Saturday afternoon, in which she also signalled the end of Operation Temperer, saying that “a well-planned and gradual withdrawal of members of the armed forces” from Britain’s streets would begin from midnight on Monday.
  
• Nevertheless, Metropolitan police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, who leads counter-terrorism policing across the country, has said that he still believes that there would be more arrests before the investigation is over.
  
• The official announcement came after police investigating Salman Abedi’s links in Manchester and beyond launched fresh raids overnight. Two people were arrested after a controlled explosion was used to gain entry to a house in Cheetham Hill. They were aged 20 and 22 and neighbours appeared to have identified them.
• Residents around Boscombe Street in Moss Side were evacuated and a bomb-disposal team deployed to another raided property. A wide police cordon in the area has now been lifted. Locals said they saw two men being taken away from the terraced house.
  
• Crowds attending events across the UK were met with armed police and intensified searches by authorities fearful of a repeat of the Manchester bombing. Most events were going ahead, but some have been cancelled as a result of the raised threat level.
  

Here is a video of Met assistant commissioner Mark Rowley’s statement, in which he vowed that there would be more arrests in the investigation into the Manchester bombing. As well as his police role, Rowley is the anti-terrorism policy lead for the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

0:51

And this is a transcript of his statement provided by the Met police’s press team:

The high pace and rapid progress of this investigation is continuing. There were three more arrests overnight. We now have 11 men in custody. There are 17 searches either concluded or continuing on various addresses, largely in the north-west of the country.

We are getting a greater understanding of the preparation of the bomb. There is still much more to do. There will be more arrests. There will be more searches but the greater clarity and progress has led JTAC, the independent body which assesses threat, to the judgment that an attack is no longer imminent.

You would have heard consequently the prime minister’s announcement that the threat level has moved from critical to severe which of course still means that an attack is highly likely. I think therefore this weekend members of the public will be wondering what that means in terms of the events they will be going to on a sunny bank holiday weekend.

For practical reasons and precautionary reasons, we made the decision that the resources that we had planned for this weekend’s events will continue. They will still see that high level of policing presence; some armed, some unarmed.

Once we get past the weekend we are going to look forward to stepping down the extra resources we have put in place over the last week. The military support we have had over the last few days under Operation Temperer, [we] will start to phase that out as well.

The last thing I would like to say to members of the public is there is still a severe threat level. If you see something you are worried about or know somebody you are worried about, please do not hesitate: please act and please call us on the anti-terrorism hotline – 0800 789321.

Number 10 has posted a video on Twitter of Theresa May’s statement this morning announcing the downgrading of the country’s terror threat level.

And here is what she said:

I’ve just chaired a meeting of Cobra this morning where I’ve been updated by the police and the security services on the investigation into Monday’s terrible attack in Manchester. A significant amount of police activity has taken place over the past 24 hours and there are now 11 suspects in custody. In the light of these developments, JTAC – the independent Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre – has this morning taken the decision to reduce the threat level from critical to severe. The public should be clear about what this means: a threat level of severe means an attack is highly likely, the country should remain vigilant.

In recent days, members of the armed forces have been assisting police in providing reassurance to the public under Operation Temperer. Today marks the start of a busy bank holiday weekend, with many sporting events and other events taking place, for which detailed security plans are already in place. To provide maximum reassurance to the public, Operation Temperer will continue to operate until the bank holiday concludes. Then on Monday, from midnight on Monday onwards, there will be a well-planned and gradual withdrawal of members of the armed forces, who will return to normal duties. The police will make a statement shortly to give further details of precisely how this will take place.

Since the attack on Monday, our police, our security services, and NHS staff have worked round the clock in difficult and traumatic circumstances, and on behalf of the country I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their tremendous service.

Police in Scotland are to remain on “enhanced deployment” this weekend despite the terror threat level being reduced, PA reports.

Police Scotland said there was no specific threat north of the border, but armed officers will be in attendance at the Scottish Cup final on Saturday afternoon, where extra security checks are also in place. Supporters have been told to expect delays on entry to the stadium.

Chief constable Phil Gormley said:

While the decision to move to severe is welcome, we must all remain vigilant. There continues to be no intelligence of a specific threat to Scotland. However, the enhanced police deployment we have planned for the major events this weekend will remain in place.

The public should continue to expect to see armed police officers on foot patrol at key locations. Our policing operation will gradually be scaled back in keeping with the UK-wide operation, but will continue to be proportionate.

Greater Manchester police have tweeted their response to the downgrade in the UK’s terror threat level. “It does not alter our response to Monday’s horrific attack,” chief constable Ian Hopkins is quoted as saying. “The level of resources we have available to us remains the same,” he added.

Radio 1’s Big Weekend will hold a minute’s silence at the event to remember victims of the Manchester bombing, PA reports. The two-day festival kicked off on Saturday afternoon with an increased police presence following the attack at Manchester Arena.

Before singer Zara Larsson opened the festival on the main stage, the event tweeted: “There will be a minute’s silence at Radio 1’s Big Weekend at 3pm – to remember our fellow music lovers who died in Manchester.”

Fifty-thousand music fans are gathering at Burton Constable Hall near Hull for the two-day festival, which includes performances from Katy Perry, Kings Of Leon, Bastille, Lorde, Kasabian and Little Mix.

Ben Cooper, Radio 1’s controller, promised that extra measures would be taken in the wake of Monday’s bombing. He said organisers would be conducting two rounds of thorough searches for those entering the venue, and that dogs would be used.

27 May 201708.22 EDT

Helen Pidd

Skiren Khan, 25, lives a few doors down from the property on Boscombe Street in Rusholme which was raided by police this morning.

She said she saw two men being put into a police van at about 9am. “It was quite calm. I saw it from my window,” she said.

Sunil Magnani, who runs a corner shop near Boscombe street, said two men were arrested at the terraced house this morning.

“One of my customers told me two guys were taken away, one Arab and one black guy,” said the shopkeeper.

There is still no confirmation by police of any arrests. A cordon is in place at both ends of Boscombe Street.

27 May 201708.14 EDT

Vikram Dodd

Vikram Dodd, our crime correspondent, has written some analysis of the government’s decision to downgrade the terrorism threat level.

The threat level was raised on Tuesday over fears the network linked to Abedi were at large, with possible access to further explosives and intent on attacking again.

The decision to drop the threat level down one grade to “severe” means intelligence analysts were satisfied that risk was now under sufficient control. That came about through the arrest of those suspects they were most concerned about.

On Friday, Britain’s top counter terrorism officer, assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, said: “We have already got a large part of the network including some very significant arrests and some significant finds. Clearly, we haven’t covered all the territory we want to but we have covered a large part of it so our confidence has been increasing on recent days. But there’s still more to do to get the degree of confidence we want.”

By Saturday morning analysts at the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which sets the threat level, were satisfied the danger posed by the network linked to the Manchester bomber had lessened through arrests and also after examination of materials seized after a string on raids starting on Tuesday.

Mark Rowley, the UK’s top counter-terrorism officer, has been explaining the decision to downgrade the threat level from critical to severe.

He said the investigation into the Manchester bombing has given a clearer picture of the network around Salman Abedi, and that a number of figures important to the inquiry had been apprehended.

He also said the public could expect to see more raids and more arrests throughout the weekend, in addition to those already carried out in the early hours of this morning.

He echoed Theresa May’s calls for the public to remain vigilante and reiterated that an attack remained highly likely.

27 May 201708.02 EDT

Helen Pidd

Residents of Boscombe Street in Moss Side in south
Manchester, where the bomb disposal unit attended earlier have been telling of their confusion at the morning’s events.
Part of the police cordon has been lifted following the departure of the Royal Logistics Corps. Officers are still guarding a terraced house on Boscombe Street, which has had its windows papered over.

Some residents on the small street were evacuated earlier this
morning. Others, including Harriet Cutchie and Christopher Ntiamoah, both 24, were told to stay inside.

Cutchie, who manages a sweet shop, said: “it’s really confusing. Our neighbour said she was woken up at 6.30am to shouts of ‘police police police’ and then a bang – probably the door being kicked in. She saw a man being taken out by police.”

Several hours after police arrived, bomb disposal experts from the army turned up. They left again around 12.30pm. No explosion, controlled or otherwise, was heard.

GMP has not confirmed any arrests at the property, only that a search was taking place.

Here’s a lunchtime roundup of all the events so far today:

• Theresa May has said the threat level has been lowered from critical to severe, meaning an attack is now highly likely rather than imminent. The threat level had been raised to its most serious status after the Manchester bombing as police sought to establish whether a network of associates had helped Salman Abedi launch his fatal attack.
• Operation Temperer, which has seen military personnel deployed at major events around the UK this weekend, is to be wound down. The prime minister said troops would start being withdrawn from key sites from midnight on Monday onwards, in line with the reduced terror threats.
• Police continuing to investigate Abedi’s links in Manchester and beyond have launched fresh raids overnight. Two people were arrested after a controlled explosion was used to gain entry to a house in Cheetham Hill. They were aged 20 and 22 and neighbours appear to have identified them.
• Residents around Boscombe Street in Moss Side were evacuated and a bomb disposal team deployed to another raided property. A wide police cordon in the area has now been lifted.
• Police now say a “large part” of the Manchester attack network has been detained.

The threat level has been reduced from critical, which means an attack is imminent, to severe, which means an attack is highly likely, Theresa May has said.

The UK was moved up to critical on Tuesday. If it had not been lowered it would have been the longest ever spell of critical terror threat in the UK.

However, Operation Temperer, which allows the military to be deployed to key sites, will continue until the end of the bank holiday, the prime minister said. May said:

A significant amount of police activity has taken place of the last 24 hours and there are now 11 suspects in custody. In light of these developments, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has taken the decision to reduce the level from critical to severe.

The announcement comes after Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said he wanted to see the threat level reduced as quickly as possible as long as it was safe to do so.

Asked if he supported the deployment of armed police, including at the FA Cup Final at Wembley, which he will attend, Corbyn said:

I find it disturbing, everybody finds it disturbing, but we have to make sure we’re safe. I will obviously look into the situation and hope we can reduce the threat level as quickly as possible.

We want people to be safe, we want people to enjoy a bank holiday, which is what a bank holiday is for, and we need to be secure and I think there’s a balance to be drawn there. The balance has to be that it’s police who do it, rather than the army, but it’s also about the strength of our communities.

Tweeted pictures from the queues to the buses taking partygoers to Radio 1’s Big Weekend show the enhanced police presence.

Humberside police said on Tuesday that people preparing to attend the event in Hull should expect stringent security checks. However, if the latter of these tweets is to be believed, some people are facing more intense scrutiny than others.