British police were within their rights to use anti-terror laws to search two people in a London street, a UK court ruled this morning.
Judge Henry Brooke, one of the two judges hearing the case, added that they should have carried out the searches quickly rather than turning them into "a slow bureaucratic process".
The case was brought against the police by a student and a photographer who were searched near the site of a major arms fair in London last month.
They claimed the police had acted unlawfully by using the powerful Terrorism Act of 2000 to justify their search.
Judge Brooke said the action was justified by the increased threat of terrorism in London. "We are, concerned with a threat greater than any that this country in general and its capital city in particular has ever faced except in time of war," he said.
"We consider that this provided the necessary justification for any violation of the claimants' rights under the European Convention of Human Rights."
Police arrested 93 demonstrators before and during the Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEI) show, a display of hi-tech weaponry that drew buyers from around the globe. All were later released.
Civil rights groups accused the police of over-reacting and abusing their powers.
"If the police wish to use this extraordinary power to stop and search without cause they must exercise it in a way that does not give rise to legitimate complaints of arbitrary abuse of power," Judge Brooke said.