Merseyside police prepared for any eventuality during Eurovision

Anyone planning to a Eurovision protest should engage with Merseyside Police and not “embarrass” the song contest, a senior officer has said.

Ch Supt Jonathan Davies said there had been no specific threats, but officers were “planning” for the possibility.

He said it was important to deliver “a safe, respectful event”.

The force recently dealt with a protest at the Grand National and the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield were stopped on Monday by a campaigner.

Thousands of visitors are expected to descend on Liverpool in the nine days leading up to the Eurovision final on 13 May.

Ch Supt Davies said the force had received no intelligence about specific protests, but he urged anyone who wanted to come and protest during the event to engage with his officers.

“We’re planning for it,” he told BBC North West Tonight.

“I’m happy with the level of planning.

“We just ask that people don’t try and embarrass it or cause problems for themselves because 161 million people will be watching this.

“I think we just need to understand how important it is to the people of Ukraine that we deliver a safe, respectful event on their behalf.”

He said there would be 5,500 police officers working across the nine days.

“There’s only 4,000 police officers in the force, so people will be working here a lot,” he said.

However, he added that despite the challenges ahead, the police plans were in place and the force was “ready to go”.

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