Police evacuate Birmingham centre.

[Dewit]

Police in Birmingham are evacuating large parts of the city centre amid a security alert.

West Midlands Police said people were being asked to leave the centre, particularly Broad Street, as a "precautionary measure".

No vehicles are being allowed past the inner ring road into the city centre, and there have also been reports of controlled explosions by police.

Police said it was in response to intelligence the force had received.

"It's quite tense," said BBC journalist Toby Brown.

No vehicles are being allowed to be moved, he added.

Birmingham resident Kenneth Kelsall told the BBC: "There is a lot of confusion, there appears to be no chance of anyone moving back into the city - but people are remaining quiet."

West Midlands Police announced they had received intelligence of a possible threat to the area around 2015BST.

Initially people were told to be on their guard and that bars and restaurants were being searched. Motorists were also told not to come into the city centre. Around 2100BST the police announced that the city was to be evacuated.

[Link to Prove] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4668313.stm

[LesbianGhost]

Good news (well not good) but it's already being posted.

[Craig]

yer good news,but bin posted

[Dewit]

UPDATE

About 20,000 people have been evacuated from Birmingham city centre amid a security alert.
West Midlands Police asked people to leave Broad Street, the main entertainment hub and two other areas. Some city homes were also evacuated.

No vehicles are being allowed past the inner ring road into the city centre, and there have also been reports of controlled explosions by police.

West Midlands Police said it was in response to intelligence it received.

It is an exodus and the lot of roads are like ghost streets, when they normally would be packed with people

The BBC's Zoe Gough

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

Birmingham resident Kenneth Kelsall told the BBC: "There is a lot of confusion, there appears to be no chance of anyone moving back into the city - but people are remaining quiet."

West Midlands Police announced they had received intelligence of a possible threat to the area at about 2015 BST.

Initially people were told to be on their guard, and that bars and restaurants were being searched. Motorists were also told not to come into the city centre.

However, about half an hour later, police announced that the city was to be evacuated.

The BBC's Zoe Gough said there was confusion and people were trying to find out information but there was no panic.

'Gridlocked' streets

"Everybody is just being turned round and the main roads out of the city seem to be gridlocked, although traffic does seem to be moving," she said.

"I have seen some cars just pulled up and also people walking along with suitcases away from city centre as if they have been stranded there," she said.

She said people were mainly trying to continue with their nights out, but the area being evacuated appeared to be increasing.

"People who have come here to have a good time have been trying to carry on with their evening, but the area being evacuated seems to be widening," she said.

"I did see a massive queue outside a nightclub, Liberty's in Hagley Street, where people had gone to."

"But it is an exodus and the lot of roads are like ghost streets, when they normally would be packed with people.

"The traffic is moving the wrong way than it normally would be on a Saturday night, put it that way. "

[Dewit]

Update

City reopens after security alert

Hundreds of people spent the night at Aston University
Birmingham city centre has now fully reopened to the public following a 10-hour security alert which led to the evacuation of up to 20,000 people.

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

Police carried out four controlled explosions on a bus in the city centre.

West Midlands Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Hyde said he was not linking the alert to the bombings in London.

He insisted the decision to close such a large part of the city centre had not been taken lightly.


"We have made this decision after careful analysis and consideration and we are very, very grateful to the public for their understanding."

He said he believed the closure of the city centre was a "proportionate response to the information".

Hundreds of people left stranded by the evacuation stayed at Aston University overnight.

At 0500 BST on Sunday bomb disposal experts declared that a suspect package at the Travelodge hotel on Broad Street was not a "credible device".


Traffic was not allowed into the city centre

The areas cordoned off included the Broad Street entertainment district and the city's Chinese quarter which are crowded with bars, theatres, restaurants, flats and hotels.

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said the cordon around Broad Street and the Chinese quarter had now been lifted.

George Redman was drinking in a bar in the city centre. He told BBC News: "We were a bit frightened... we were told we'd all got to leave. We saw people rushing but it was pretty calm."

French student Natalie Perrier, 19, was evacuated from her flat in the Brindleyplace canal side area near Broad Street.

She said: "I saw helicopters in front of my house, there were three police cars as well going around the streets.

"I was just scared. I didn't know what was happening."

'Highly unusual'

BBC Home Affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford believed the issuing of a public warning by police showed there must have been information of a "fairly specific and credible" threat.

"It is highly unusual, if not unprecedented to evacuate a whole city centre."


West Midlands Police announced they had received intelligence of a possible threat to the area at about 2015 BST.

Initially people were told to be on their guard, and that bars and restaurants were being searched. Motorists were also told not to come into the city centre.

However, about half an hour later, police said the city was to be evacuated.






Edited By nvrspk4 (Forum Moderator): Please don't double post, simply edit your previous post.

[Matty]

How many were peed while being evacuated....?

[Craig]

nice thread,gd updates but try not double posting

[Georgia]

I live in birmingham and I was on borad street a few hours before it was on the news. There were lots of police and ambulances which i tohught was strange. Just as i was going to bed last night my mom called me down and it was on the news. Luckily it was nothing

[YellowParasol]

Apparantly the Police thought they found one of those Packages that was the same ones thatw ere on the Trains/Bus in London but there was Nothing inside the Package in Birmingham