Portugal beefs up security for EU treaty summit

LISBON, Oct 17 (Reuters) Portuguese police will deploy a 3,000-strong security team for the summit of EU heads of state to decide on a new treaty, stepping up the numbers from other summits held during the presidency, police said today.

The summit, on Oct 18-19 in Lisbon, is expected to reach a deal on a new treaty to reform the bloc's institutions.

The security measures include helicopter surveillance, a rapid reaction force, counter-snipers, 38 patrol cars and a motorcade of 140 police officers to patrol the area in front of the river Tagus where the summit will take place.

''We will have 3,000 police officers involved in the security of this summit. It's a much larger operation than the previous EU-Brazil summit,'' police spokesman Pedro Moura told reporters.

Moura said several delegations would have extra security due to the high level of threats they could face.

''We analysed the risks and we'll take special measures for certain delegations. This will be the case for representatives of Spain, Italy, France, Germany, UK, Poland and Sweden,'' Moura said.

Reuters PD GC1739