Six Men Arrested In London For Alleged Threat To The Pope

Six men were arrested in London Friday in connection to an alleged threat against Pope Benedict XVI on the second day of his four-day visit to Britain.

Five of the suspects are street cleaners and were arrested in an early morning raid at a cleaning depot in central London. The men, between the ages of 26 and 50, are all being detained under Britain’s Terrorism Act without charge on suspicion of “the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.”

A sixth man, 29, was arrested at his home later in the day.

Authorities didn’t find any hazardous materials during searches conducted across the city and the pope didn’t change his itinerary for the day.

The suspects reportedly work for Veolia Environmental Services, hired by Westminster Council, which is responsible for much of central London. The depot where the men were arrested didn’t service areas where the pope was slated to visit, authorities said.

Benedict was meeting with Muslim and Jewish leaders when news of the arrests broke. After that gathering he attended an event with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. There has been tension between the two since the Vatican said it would make it easier for Anglicans to convert to Catholicism after the Anglican church began ordaining female bishops.

Benedict met with Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday at Holyroodhouse Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Benedict visited St. Mary’s University College earlier Friday, where he was greeted by Catholic school children. He urged teachers to offer the children a safe and protected environment – an apparent reference to the child sex abuse scandal facing the church. He also advised the students to resist the temptations of “celebrity culture”.

As the 83-year-old pope met with children Friday, about 30 people staged a protest a few blocks away condemning the church’s opposition to homosexuality and its refusal to accept condom use as a way to battle AIDS.

Benedict’s visit hasn’t been entirely well-received in Britain with many citizens angered by the Vatican’s response to the child abuse scandal and balking at the $18.7 million (US) security price tag.

A 2001 report in Britain recommended all church officials be subject to police checks and called for prompt investigation into any allegations of abuse.

In 2007, two monks at Buckfast Abbey School were sentenced for sexually abusing boys. In 2009 a monk at London’s Ealing Abbey was also sentenced for sexually abusing boys at a school.