BBC: Police evacuate Birmingham centre because of threat

[bigworld]

per BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4668313.stm - 4:11pm EDT

Police in Birmingham in the Midlands are evacuating the city centre.

Earlier they issued a warning they had received intelligence suggesting a threat to the area.

"Our response needs to be proportionate in the action we're taking and in informing the public," a spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said.

Police are now closing down the Birmingham Broad street entertainment zone and asking people to go home. A statement will be released shortly.

[allemand]

1. Birmingham is home to a large population of British Asians.

The BBC Asian Network is also located in the city.

[jhain]

2. Police in Birmingham evacuate the city centre after receiving intelligence

breaking:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

[flamingyouth]

3. Tiny article with barely more info:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4668313.stm

[Mika]

4. link here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4668313.stm

Earlier they issued a warning they had received intelligence suggesting a threat to the area.

"Our response needs to be proportionate in the action we're taking and in informing the public," a spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said.

Police are now closing down the Birmingham Broad street entertainment zone and asking people to go home. A statement will be released shortly.

[Newsjock]

5. Live audio stream from BBC local radio here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/radiowm

Click on Listen Live. (They're still playing music in between live reports and phone calls.)

Edit: Oops, looks like BBC WM was just evacuated. Coverage continues on BBC Radio Five Live.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive

[non sociopath skin]

6. Watching BBC News 24 in the UK. Will try to keep you posted.

The Skin

[allemand]

7. Police in Birmingham "conducted several controlled explosions"

In a sign of the continued state of alert in England, police evacuated thousands of people from Birmingham's central entertainment district Saturday night and conducted several controlled explosions to destroy suspicious objects, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported. There was no confirmation of any explosive devices being found.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050709/ap_on_re_eu/britain_bombings_12

Police urging members of the public to leave the city centre told passers by that they had carried out a series of controlled explosions in the area and their actions were being taken in response to a credible threat to public safety.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=766772005

[non sociopath skin]

8. BBC News 24 is speaking of a suspicious package on a bus.

The promised 22.00 Press Conference from the West Midlands police has not yet materialised.

The Skin

[non sociopath skin]

12. BBC News 24 seems to be deprioritising the story. A hoax, maybe?

The Skin

[allemand]

13. Possibly. But they are certainly taking no chances, evacuating the whole

city center.

[non sociopath skin]

14. I guess they had little option if they had a call that sounded genuine.

The Skin

[non sociopath skin]

15. BBC News 24 reporting on Birmingham now reporting "light-hearted" mood.

Sounds like a false alarm to me.

The Skin

[HR_Pufnstuf]

9. Hard Rock Cafe in London on fire too.

Central London restaurant on fire

A fire has broken out at the Hard Rock Cafe in central London.

Eight fire engines are attending to the fire at the seven-storey restaurant situated in Piccadilly's Park Lane, the London Fire Brigade said.

Ducting at the building was alight from the ground all the way up to the roof, a spokeswoman said. There is no information on casualties.

The fire takes place as the emergency services struggle to recover victims of this week's bomb attacks in London"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4668157.stm

[non sociopath skin]

10. Curiously, News 24 hasn't reported this.

The Skin

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Oh no

I hope no one got hurt. The Brits have had enough for one week.

[Pert_UK]

18. And in other news, the average standard of British food just increased...

:evilgrin:

Seriously.....we don't actually need the Rock Cafes - we can live without them!

P.

[oioioi]

16. Sounds rather serious

30K people in unprecedented evacuation of entire UK city center.

No word on the nature of the threat. Evacuation area recently expanded.

Center of city is cordoned off. Emergency shelters being opened for displaced people.

[deminks]

17. Latest update from BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4668313.stm

Birmingham city centre has been shut down and 20,000 people evacuated amid a security alert.

West Midlands Police put up an exclusion cordon around the A38 inner city ring road after intelligence warned of a "substantial threat".

Bomb disposal experts are now examining a suspect package at the Travelodge hotel on Broad Street.

Police said the evacuation was a "proportionate response" to the intelligence received, but were not giving specific details.

(end snip)

Sounds like it is not over yet. I was also listening to our little BBC blurb on our PBS station at 10pm CDT and it sounded like it was still going on at this time.