London Riots Raise Olympic Fears

An outbreak of rioting and looting just as officials from almost 200 Olympic committees were visiting London has left organizers scrambling to reassure the world that security won't be an issue at the 2012 London Games. Officials say they are confident that local authorities will be able to handle security, although current unrest forced the cancelation of two international soccer games in London this week, and the start of the Premier League soccer season is in jeopardy, the Guardian notes.

“There’s no doubt that this is a very bad day, a worrying day, for Olympic organizers in London,” a professor at the London School of Economics tells the New York Times. "They planned to protect London from conventional terrorism. But of all the things they might have thought might happen, I’d be surprised if civil insurrections was high up on their list of expected risk factors." (More 2012 London Olympics stories.)