AhlulBayt News Agency

source : Favstocks
Thursday

28 April 2011

7:30:00 PM
239027

Close your eyes: Royal Wedding comes

Forget about the massacre of innocent Shiites in Bahrain which the international community witnesses with indifference. Never mind about the bloody war in Libya which is claiming the lives of unarmed civilians. Flush out of your mind popular uprisings by people in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, revolting against their despotic regimes in search of freedom and dignity. Turn on your radio and listen to the most important headline of the day: Royal Wedding 2011!

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - While the nations of the Middle East are anxiously following developments in their region and keeping an eye on what their neighbors are doing and achieving in their anti-government movements, the world's mainstream media have devoted most of their attention to the upcoming wedding ceremony of British Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales and his fianc?e Catherine Elizabeth Kate Middleton.

The royal wedding is scheduled to take place on April 29 in the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey.

The ceremony, considered to be one of the most luxurious and lavish services of its type in the world, will be broadcast by the BBC, CNN and ITV and it is estimated that more than two billion people around the world will watch the event live.

Dozens of high-ranking politicians and diplomats, governmental officials, foreign royals, religious figures and celebrities are invited to attend the ceremony as special guests.

Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the son of Bahrain's embattled ruler, and the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper are the only high-profile officials who declined to take part in the ceremony. Salman preferred to remain in his country and monitor the unstoppable wave of anti-government protests that have encompassed his country. Harper, meanwhile, will remain in Canada to take part in the country's electoral campaign.

The Clarence House has designed an elaborate, bountiful and extraordinary plan for the wedding ceremony.

According to the schedule of the program, the main congregation, Governors-General, prime ministers of the commonwealth countries ruled by Queen Elizabeth II, and the diplomatic corps will all start arriving at the Westminster Abbey from 8:15 a.m.

Consequently, the foreign royals, members of the Middleton family and the members of Prince William's family -- including Ann, the Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, The Duke of York; Princess Beatrice of York; Princess Eugenie of York; Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex; Sophie, Countess of Wessex; Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence; Charles, The Prince of Wales; and Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall -- will also arrive.

According to a longstanding tradition, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will be the last members of the royal family to leave Buckingham Palace, arriving at the Abbey at 10:45 am.

The bridal party, which resides in the 5-star Goring Hotel, will leave the hotel in time for the service to begin at 11 a.m.

After attending the royal procession, the couple will appear at the balcony of Buckingham Palace and watch an air maneuver by the Supermarine Spitfire aircraft, the Avro Lancaster bomber, the Hawker Hurricane single-seat fighter, the Eurofighter Typhoon and Tornado GR5 aircraft.

Subsequently, the couple will proceed along the ceremonial route from the Buckingham Palace toward the Westminster Abbey church where the special guests await the arrival of the newlywed couple.

Everything in the ceremony seems quite exceptional and outstanding. The neatly-planned schedule of the program specifies everything with great detail: the wedding service, the evening's private dinner for the royal family members, carrying out official duties and officiating, the sermon by the Bishop of London, the orchestral choirs, the reception, the wedding cake and the wedding ring for the bride.

Since several weeks ago, Scotland Yard has adopted tough security measures to ensure that the ceremony will be held in absolute safety. According to The Daily Telegraph, "six protesters, who police feared were planning to disrupt the royal wedding, have been arrested by Scotland Yard as the officers begin their 'pre-emptive strike' against potential anarchists."

"Officers moved to arrest them this week as they feared the group was planning further disruption at the royal wedding on Friday. The six have been issued with bail conditions stopping them from entering central London on the day of the wedding," the report added.

According to CNN, providing the security of the royal wedding includes one of the largest police operations ever in the United Kingdom. More than 5,000 police officers have been mobilized by the Scotland Yard to avert any potential threat that may endanger the security of the royal wedding.

Scotland Yard has pledged to give decisive and categorical response to the anti-royalists and anti-capitalists, who have announced that they will gather in London to protest against the lavishness and sumptuousness of the royal wedding.

The UK royal family has conventionally accused its opponents of being "fixated" individuals that suffer from mental disorders and should be dealt with by psychiatrists and psychologists.

According to CNN, a group of police officers, psychiatrists and psychologists work in an office in London to counter any potential threat that may await the royal family. Reports say that this group is part of the "Fixated Threat Assessment Center (FTAC), a unit established in 2006 with the responsibility of identifying and the power to indefinitely detain individuals who harass, stalk or threaten the royal family and others in public life."

The British coalition "Muslims against Crusade" was among the groups that had filed a written request for authorization to stage a rally on April 29 to protest against the royal wedding.

Scotland Yard rejected their application and announced that every action to disrupt the ceremony will receive a hard-hitting response.

In order to make sure that no explosive material or hidden weapons are set up on the route from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, police "officers are scouring every inch of the route to Westminster Abbey, while dogs have also been checking bins and lamp-posts for bombs," BBC reported.

Now everything is prepared for the third eldest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate his wedding in the most sparkling and delightful fashion.

This is while innocent people in Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and Saudi Arabia are being massacred for their righteous demands for basic freedoms, democracy and human dignity.

Meanwhile, the mainstream Western media are carelessly giving wide coverage to the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, a couple that have made the headlines merely for their lavish and unparalleled wedding ceremony.

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