EIF security stepped up in wake of UK terror attacks

Security is being stepped up at stage doors at Edinburgh International Festival venues in the wake of recent terror attacks in the UK.

Newly-installed security barriers on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh which have been erected to prevent vehicles being driven into pedestrians by terrorists. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday July 26, 2017. The barriers are being deployed to provide security during the Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe. See PA story POLICE Fringe. Photo credit should read: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Organisers have warned people not to bring large bags to shows and that searches may be carried out at venues.

Fergus Linehan, director of the festival, which opens tomorrow, said all staff working at venues are being asked to have accreditation on them at all times.

He said: “We’ve been asked to be more alert and careful. Staff are being asked to be more aware of areas like stage doors, which may have been a bit relaxed before, and to make sure people have the right accrediation, which is a bit of a cultural change. We’re asking people not to come along to venues straight from Waverley Station with their luggage. It’s really about having a stepped-up state of alertness.”

Police chiefs launched their annual festival operation yesterday days after anti-vehicle barriers were installed at key points in the city centre. Armed police will be on patrol in the historic heart of the capital over the next month as part of the security operation to protect people attending the EIF, the Fringe and the Tattoo.

Fringe chief executive Shona McCarthy said: “Public safety is absolutely paramount and it is better to have additional measures than to have something happen and then ask why they were not in place.”

Superintendent Lesley Clark said, of Police Scotland: “With such an increase of people within the city it’s really important that we have a visible presence within the city centre and across the Capital to engage with the public.”