Armed Gardaí Will Be On Duty At Electric Picnic This Weekend

Armed Gardaí will be present at Electric Picnic this weekend as part of heightened security measures. The move comes after the recent spate of terror attacks around Europe. Up to 55,000 people are set to attend the festival in Stradbally, Co. Laois this weekend. Festival organiser Melvin Benn said:

"Yeah there are significant extra safety measures. "We've been working really closely with the gardai about that, holding tabletop exercises and really spending a lot of time with all the different agencies - talking through likely scenarios, potential scenarios. "Of course we've changed our security plan, I mean the whole of Europe has changed their security plan in every aspect of everything we do. We're not alone in that. "I want to pay significant praise to the gardai. They've been absolutely thorough in what they've been asking us to do and working with them. "Of course we're not revealing all the changes but the changes are definitely there. "The gardai will have an armed gardai presence here, there is no doubt about that."

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