The Mayor of London, Mr Ken Livingstone, will be one of hundreds of potential targets under protection today as police try to thwart anarchist efforts to hijack May Day protests.
It emerged yesterday that Mr Livingstone had been placed under Special Branch protection last week. The decision apparently followed the Mayor's support for the proposed "zero tolerance" approach by police to some 1,000 anarchists and activists believed determined to bring mayhem to London.
Oxford Street is thought to be the main target for protesters intent on confrontation during a day-long series of anti-capitalist, animal rights and ecological demonstrations based on the "May Day Monopoly" theme and focused on locations used in the board game.
Police are also understood to fear a possible attack on the London Underground. Rail and Tube chiefs have warned that some central London stations may have to close.
More than 6,000 officers will be on standby for one of the largest policing operations in the capital during peacetime. However, as fears about police tactics grew yesterday, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir John Stevens, said the police had no intention of using plastic bullets or baton rounds if the protests became violent.
Stressing that the use of baton rounds would be on his personal authority, Sir John said: "Such ammunition has never been deployed on mainland Britain and I have no intention to do so."
Although not entirely ruling out such a possibility, he appeared anxious to defuse concerns raised following the suggestion by the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, Lord Harris, that baton rounds and CS gas could be used in extreme circumstances.
The Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has pledged his "absolute and total backing" for the police, and warned Londoners that the limits of tolerance could be tested by today's demonstrations.
"The limits of tolerance are past when protesters, in the name of some spurious cause, seek to inflict fear, terror, violence and criminal damage on our people and property," he told the London Press Club.