Workers slam 'gung-ho halfwits'

Greenwich and Bexley Trades Council condemned a "ridiculous boys and their big toys" exercise today as Bow residents gathered to discuss the missiles that army chiefs say will protect the Olympic Games.

The battery atop the Bow Quarter estate - the former Bryant and May match factory - is just one of six caches of rockets designed to shoot down planes.

But the trades council's Dave Putson said defence officials had treated the project as nothing more than "a great PR exercise."

The missiles themselves made the flats potential targets for a terrorist attack, he said, but defence officials haven't even talked to locals about it.

He said that, if the missiles are shot at planes, scores of people could be killed by falling wreckage in east and south-east London.

"It is fair to say that (Greenwich and Bexley and Bow Quarter residents) are both opposed to this ridiculous 'boys and their big toys' plan from a bunch of gung-ho halfwits," he said.

But defence officials insisted they had done their due diligence.

Lt Col Nick Short told the Morning Star they had thought about the missile deployment for a long time and had conducted risk assessments.

But the ministry did not routinely publish assessments as the information would then become a "how-to guide" for terrorists.

It was still not certain the ministry would deploy the missiles at all, he added.