Security screening at the Manchester Arena, which was the scene of a suicide bombing last night, has come in for criticism from visitors.
Among the criticisms aired on Twitter were comments that you could easily “walk in with things under a coat”, while several said their bags were not even checked.
Entertainment and sporting venues in the UK are now urgently reviewing security procedures.
At least 22 people, many of them children, have so far being confirmed as fatalities and 59 injured in the attack at a pop concert in the city.
The events occurred at about 10.30pm on Monday 22 May at the end of a concert by the American singer Ariana Grande.
Chaos
The attack took place in the foyer, leaving hundreds of people fleeing in terror and confusion. Many children and young teenagers were separated from their parents in the ensuing chaos.
The injured had wounds consistent with shrapnel injury, according to medics.
A nail bomb may have been used in the attack, as according to a witness nuts and bolts were strewn on the floor of the foyer.
Greater Manchester police have confirmed that they believe the bombing was the work of a single man armed with an improvised explosive device. The attacker is among the dead. The investigation into the attack involves the police counter-terrorism network and Britain’s domestic security service, MI5.
Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May, said: “We are working to establish the full details of what is being treated by the police as an appalling terrorist attack. All our thoughts are with the victims and the families of those who have been affected.”
Flags outside Downing Street flew at half mast. All political parties have suspended campaigning for the general election, which is less than three weeks away.
May chaired an emergency meeting of the government’s crisis committee, Cobra, on Tuesday morning.
Chief constable Ian Hopkins said: “We have been treating this as a terrorist incident and we believe that while the attack last night was conducted by one man, the priority is to establish whether he was acting alone or as part of a network.”
The death toll makes the attack in Manchester the worst of its kind since the bombings in 2005, where several suicide bombers detonated explosives they were carrying in backpacks in several busy London locations including a bus and tube stations, killing 52 people.
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