Heads Up: Snipers & Helicopters to Monitor Crowd During Pope's Visit to Hungary
- 26 Apr 2023 7:20 AM
- Budapest Business Journal
Wide-ranging security preparations are ongoing for the Budapest visit of the Pope: all street lamps and sewers are being checked and manhole covers are being welded down near the locations of the papal visit and three possible routes leading from the airport to central Budapest.
Snipers will be deployed and air law enforcement units will also be present, Magyar Nemzet reports.
The sewer network on the routes affected by the pope’s visit have partly been examined, in search for explosives and firearms. Bomb-seeking robots will check most routes and wherever it is possible bomb disposal experts from the Counter-Terrorist Centre (TEK) will also check everything personally.
Which of the routes designated in advance on which the pope will arrive in downtown Budapest will not be public knowledge. The final decision will only be made after the papal airplane has landed.
Dwellers, neighbouring houses and buildings on the areas affected by the visit will also be thoroughly examined and possibly some roads and parts of the city may be closed for certain periods.
In addition, helicopters and drones will monitor the affected locations. A ban on flights over St. István tér and Kossuth tér will be in force, so the police will destroy every alien drone or force it to land.
Visitors will be allowed to approach Kossuth tér or St. István tér outside the Basilica only after multiple checks.
Protection for Pope Francis is provided by the elite unit of the Swiss Guard in co-operation with local authorities and the secret services, as well as 140 members of the Vatican police, including 20 counter-terrorist agents.
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