Bombscare in Birmingham

Something’s going on in Birmingham, England but details are scarce:

LONDON (Reuters) – Police evacuated thousands of people and sealed off the center of Britain’s second city Birmingham on Saturday night in the biggest security alert since four bombs exploded in London killing more than 50 people.

Acting in response to intelligence of a threat, they cleared the city’s entertainment and Chinatown districts of some 30,000 people and carried out a controlled explosion on a bus.

But they stressed the security alert was not connected to last Thursday’s bomb attacks in London.

But they would say that, wouldn’t they?

Bongo Vongo is reporting first hand:

I am in Birmingham … sirens are wailing … again!

[21.30] I finally made it back from London to Birmingham and the breaking news here (this time — as I finish watching Hellboy on DVD) is that the Broad Street area of the city has been closed off and thousands of people have been evacuated. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the alert has been triggered off by suspicious packages being left somewhere. I’ve just seen a car stop and park in front of the house, a man jumps out with a fairly professional looking camera in his hands, he heads off in the direction of Broad Street — just a 10 minute walk from here — I decide to head out to see for myself.

[22.45] Just got back. It’s being reported that over 30,000 people have been evacuated from Birmingham City Centre by the police. It’s also reported (by David Brooks of the Birmingham Sunday Mercury on a BBC News 24 interview) that a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspect package found on a No.105 bus outside the Square Peg pub. What I saw was some groups of people just standing around, some with beer in their hands, others choosing to sit on grass verges. However, most people were moving away from town calmly if a little confusedly. A lot of them were obviously out-of-towners whose knowledge of the back streets of central Birmingham isn’t that great. Different conga lines of hen parties were bumping into each other on their way out. Chinatown and Hurst Street seem to have closed too, so crowds of Chinese tourists and patrons of the gay bars and clubs mingled together as they walked away from town. A man walked past me with tap shoes on which clicked loudly on the tarmac as he hurried by — I think he may have been a cast member of 42nd Street, which was (not) playing at the Hippodrome.

So, no panic really — just disappointed Saturday night revellers and disgruntled (but safe) Brummies.

The West Midlands police have released a statement which concludes:

We can now confirm that the package we are currently investigating was found in a hotel at the Travel Lodge on Broad Street. The description of this page is a box with wires coming out and a switch on top. The bomb disposal squad are still investigating this package.

I’ll report as more details emerge.