Pope UK visit mega discussion thread.

Preusse wrote: »

That's one way of looking at it, agreed, but this is with the benefit of hindsight. Nobody can say how someone would act at the age he was at. The ranks would have been filled by all in the class at that time, Towards the end of the war there was no "elite" of students chosen to fight in the different units, everyone was drafted in, no matter what the age.

Also, remember, you said he was near legal age but that had no meaning in Germany at the time because all children from a certain age on "belonged" to Hitler, that was made clear by the ceremonies where parents actually "handed over" their children to Hitler (the State and Party) to educate and train up to and until after their military training and compulsory service in one of the armed forces branches.

Armed police today arrested five men suspected of plotting to assassinate the Pope.

A counter-terrorism squad swooped on an address in north-east London at 5.45am after Scotland Yard received information that the pontiff’s life was in danger.

The men, all foreign nationals and believed to be of Arabic origin, had not previously come to the attention of the police or the security services.

The suspects, aged 26, 27, 36, 40 and 50, were were arrested under the Terrorism Act and are being questioned at a central London police station.

Police are also searching a business premises in Westminster, central London, where the Pope is due this afternoon, and residential properties in north and east London.

No hazardous materials have yet been found in the search, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.

Senior officers were called into Scotland Yard in the early hours of this morning when the intelligence was received. It was understood to relate to a specific threat to the Pope rather than a mass terror attack in the vein of the July 7 bombings.

The security arrangements surrounded the Pope’s visit have already been reviewed but Benedict XVI’s schedule has not been altered and the UK threat level remains unchanged.

A Met spokesman said: “Today’s arrests were made after police received information. Following initial inquiries by detectives, a decision was made to arrest the five men.

“Following today’s arrests the policing arrangements for the Papal visit were reviewed and we are satisfied that our current policing plan remains appropriate. The itinerary has not changed. There is no change to the UK threat level.”

The pope has today already held a private mass and spoken to 4,000 schoolchildren in a “Big Assembly” at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham.

Currently running an hour late, he is this afternoon due to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, give an address at Westminster Hall and lead evening prayers at Westminster Abbey.

A security source told The Times: “These could be major arrests. But it might also turn out to be a matter for immigration.”