Police stopped a group of suspected protesters in the queue at the Wimbledon tennis championships on Saturday, causing hold-ups for thousands of fans waiting to get inside the grounds. Club officials decided to keep the gates closed for an extra 45 minutes while they assessed the nature of the threat.
Stars scheduled to play Saturday included the top three male players, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, alongside women's world number one Caroline Wozniacki, four-time champion Serena Williams and 2004 winner Maria Sharapova.
The group of 14 people - whose cause and identity was not revealed by police - wore yellow T-shirts bearing slogans, including "Democracy", and had paint and other equipment to make banners hidden in bags. The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) imposed a security lockdown so officials "could establish what the level of threat was". "Acting on information received that there might be a potential demonstration at Wimbledon we have been taking some actions to prevent it," the private club said in a brief statement.
A police helicopter flew over the south-west London complex to monitor the situation. A police spokesman said: "At approximately 10:30am (0930 GMT) a number of people were stopped in the queue at the tennis for Wimbledon and items were also found near to this group, believed to be for use in a demonstration or publicity stunt.
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