Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Bomb Scare brings Cambridge to a standstill.

Cameraboy | 27.09.2011 19:59 | Policing | Terror War | Cambridge | World

Yesterday afternoon, like a scene from some surreal movie, Cambridge city centre was the scene of a full scale bomb disposal mobilisation, and the city centre was partially closed down and evacuated.

The front of Anglia Ruskin University
The front of Anglia Ruskin University

Other news crews are available!
Other news crews are available!

Even the nearby park got closed down.
Even the nearby park got closed down.

The top of Mill Road.
The top of Mill Road.

A deserted intersection!
A deserted intersection!

Call the bomb squad! Oh, you did...
Call the bomb squad! Oh, you did...

Detail of Bomb Disposal vehicle, showing 'sniffer' robot.
Detail of Bomb Disposal vehicle, showing 'sniffer' robot.

The view from Parkers Piece.
The view from Parkers Piece.

East Road - deserted!
East Road - deserted!

Norfolk Street crossing, replete with several PCSOs.
Norfolk Street crossing, replete with several PCSOs.

A bad day for business at The Grafton Centre.
A bad day for business at The Grafton Centre.

Heading towards Newmarket Road - very quiet!
Heading towards Newmarket Road - very quiet!

Road block at Newmarket Road end of East Road.
Road block at Newmarket Road end of East Road.

A fireman apparently flushing out a drain underneath East Road.
A fireman apparently flushing out a drain underneath East Road.

Strangely picturesque.
Strangely picturesque.


It's not every day that you're just going about your business in the city centre and literally turn a corner and find yourself in the middle of a full scale bomb scare, but that's exactly what happened to me yesterday afternoon.

This seemed like an interesting turn of events (and smelling a very good photo story), I hung about and watched it all unfold before me, although initially I was in a hurry and inadvertently 'trespassed' into the exclusion zone of the park beside the Zion Church, and a cop was quick to intercept me as I did!

I pointed out to them that perhaps they should have made it a lot clearer that this area was closed off, as I found out later there was only one discrete cordon across the bollarded entrance (see picture) and not much else, which, due to my approaching from another direction hadn't seen.

East Road was completely closed down by a police road block at the Newmarket Road end (see pictures), and up to the front of Anglia Ruskin's Helmore Building (see pictures), meaning this was the first time I'd seen this road so utterly devoid of traffic for a very long time. An eerie sight indeed, but at the same time it was liberating to be able to stroll right up the middle of what is usualy a congested and dangerous road during daylight hours.

It transpires that this road was closed for up to seven hours, although contrary to other reports I've seen, I noticed the road was open and traffic flowing again by 7:12pm that night, as I walked back that way after doing an errand off Mill Road.

Anglia Ruskin was partially closed down and evacuated at the front of the campus (mainly the Helmore), although I took a short cut through the new courtyard behind it and saw a couple of hundred people sitting around, and the new Cafe seemed to be doing a roaring trade as it was completely packed!

As for the 'bomb disposal' operation itself, it comprised about a hundred metre cordoned off area between the top of Dover Street (where The Tram Depot pub is) and the East Road/Mill Road intersection, which the police tightly controlled the flow of traffic on (see pictures).

In the middle of this No-Man's Land was positioned a Royal Air Force Bomb Disposal truck, replete with 'sniffer' robot (see picture), and numerous squaddies, forensic officers (in their distinctive white suits), and briefly, a Fire Brigade crew, who appeared to be flushing out a drain underneath East Road (see picture).

The police on the beat were predictably reticent (or maybe just ill informed) about the whole operation, and in the absence of hard facts, many rumours were flying around as to what was happening, most of them not worth reporting here.

It was an odd but calm atmosphere at the cordons, with many people standing around watching and waiting to see what might happen, including several TV news reporters and some media students from Anglia Ruskin. Some people amused themselves by recording wildly untrue 'news' stories of the event on their mobile 'phones, pretending they were TV news reporters. I did tell them they should work for The Sun, as they were making stuff up as they went along!

One passerby told me that as they cycled around town, the queues of traffic were backed up at least a mile from the cordons, although I have little sympathy for anyone who drives around a city that is small enough to walk (or cycle) from one place to another.

Sprawling London this is not.

It was reported today in local paper, the Cambridge News that this alert was triggered by a student from Anglia Ruskin itself making a hoax call about a bomb.

They have of course been arrested for doing this, and it may prove to be a prank call they'll never ever forget making.

What price a joke..?

Cameraboy

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

bit unfair

27.09.2011 20:53

>> One passerby told me that as they cycled around town, the queues of traffic were backed up at least a mile from the cordons, although I have little sympathy for anyone who drives around a city that is small enough to walk (or cycle) from one place to another.

I think that is really harsh.... I can think of many examples where that thought process is... mean and petty.
- Old people
- People with physical disabilities
- Parents with small children
- Deliveries of goods that are too heavy or cumbersome to carry
- People who are sick or recently come out of hospital
- People who need to get to their destination of time to assist others (doctors, carers etc).

self righteous anarchist


Response to above comment.

28.09.2011 10:51

Your examples are all valid, but the fact of the matter is that the majority of drivers around urban areas do not come under those categories, often by their own admission if asked.

In short, we need to wean ourselves off our addiction to using motorised tranport which consumes fossil fuels and start exploring other more sustainable options, and no this doesn't mean going back to pre-industrial lifestyles (not realistic at all), it means mean using technology in a more intelligent way to address these problems.

It is up to us at grassroots level to bring this pressure to bear upon the corporations and governments by actively exploring and using these alternatives (e.g kinetic, solar and electrical power - there are others), otherwise nothing will ever change.

To quote Malcolm X, if you're not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem.

Cameraboy


Oh yeah...

28.09.2011 11:00

It would also help if public transport truly was publically owned (and therefore subsidised, so cheaper to use), and if the Tories stopped cutting back on our bus services!

This too would get quite a lot of cars off the roads.

Cameraboy


So, anyway..

28.09.2011 13:55

Any hint of why this happened? Was it political? They torturing animals there or manufacturing chemical weapons?

anon


cars and buses

28.09.2011 15:59

"Your examples are all valid, but the fact of the matter is that the majority of drivers around urban areas do not come under those categories, often by their own admission if asked. "
True, but they do pay road tax etc and fuel tax that contributes to the upkeep of the roads.

"In short, we need to wean ourselves off our addiction to using motorised tranport which consumes fossil fuels and start exploring other more sustainable options, and no this doesn't mean going back to pre-industrial lifestyles (not realistic at all), it means mean using technology in a more intelligent way to address these problems."
I agree with you there. I think that is for the government to sort out. The average motorist has got to do all the things they need to do without having to worry about extra stuff.


"It is up to us at grassroots level to bring this pressure to bear upon the corporations and governments by actively exploring and using these alternatives (e.g kinetic, solar and electrical power - there are others), otherwise nothing will ever change. "

Ultimately, i think it is the scientists and engineers to solve this. Rather than campaigning, we should be looking at creating practical solutions so that people have something to move to. At the minute there is nothing.

"To quote Malcolm X, if you're not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem."
I'm not sure what he was relating to when he said that, but i doubt it was to do with transport.

"It would also help if public transport truly was publically owned (and therefore subsidised, so cheaper to use), and if the Tories stopped cutting back on our bus services! "

Yes, i agree. The government are the ones that have to sort this out. If buses were cheap, safe, clean, not overcrowded and on time I'm sure people would use them. However, twice in london when i have visited I've seen some aggro on buses that was pretty worrying. Then you read stories like that australia chap who was stabbed by some youths. This all puts people off buses, cars are safer for them.

"This too would get quite a lot of cars off the roads."
It would if they improved the damn things.


"Any hint of why this happened? Was it political? They torturing animals there or manufacturing chemical weapons?"
No, just some idiot.

anarchist


Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech