UK Police Arrest 31 Suspected Protestors Before Royal Wedding

(NewsCore) - LONDON -- UK police have arrested 31 people suspected of involvement in various plans to disrupt Friday's royal wedding.

Scotland Yard has stressed there was no specific terror threat but sources told Sky News officers are concerned about activities by anarchist groups ahead of the big day -- and they carried out preemptive raids on squats in London on Thursday morning, in which 20 were arrested.

Sky sources said a separate operation saw three more arrested Thursday night in Brockley, southeast London, and a large guillotine seized. It is thought protesters were planning to use it to slice heads off effigies.

Seven arrests were also made at squats in Hove, East Sussex, earlier Thursday, and a man is being held in Cambridgeshire on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.

Police are clamping down on anyone who may be suspected of planning trouble.

A group called Reclaim The Royal Wedding, which is encouraging followers to take part in some form of protest near Westminster Abbey on Friday, is also causing concern.

Police were expected to carry out a number of arrests ahead of the big day, which will be watched by a global TV audience of two billion and is expected to be the most expensive and high-profile security operation in a generation for Scotland Yard.

More than 5,000 officers will make up a multimillion-pound ring of steel Friday -- including snipers on rooftops and undercover officers mingling among the crowds.

Read more: Sky News