London: The Palace of Westminster, where both Houses of UK Parliament meet, is to be converted into a fortress within months to protect it from a terrorist attack, a media report said in London today (Oct 24, 2004).

The Houses of Parliament are to be protected from a terrorist attack by electric fences, road blocks and a boom barrage in the Thames river, 'The Sunday Times' said.

The newspaper was quoting a leaked report commissioned by Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin after confidential security briefings that al-Qaeda terrorists have the Parliament in their sights and may have visited Westminster to look at vulnerable points.

Martin has kept the report locked in his office and shown it in confidence to only a dozen MPs and peers, it said.

The long-awaited document from the security service and police, running into 250 pages, gives details on how the Palace of Westminster is to be turned into a fortress within months, the newspaper claimed.

The recommendations given by the report include installation of electric fencing around the Palace of Westminster.

This "electrical protection" should cover parts of the building that are accessible to the public, particularly the clock tower that Greenpeace protesters managed to scale within minutes in the past.

Pressure for prompt action to tighten security has grown after pro-hunting campaigners invaded the Commons chamber last month, the powder bomb attack by divorced fathers on Tony Blair at Prime Minister's questions and the scaling of the Big Ben tower by Greenpeace protesters.