British Parliament Locked Down Over Anthrax Scare - All Clear Now Given

Parliament was locked down for around thirty minutes tonight as police investigated an anthrax alert in the central lobby of the Palace of Westminster. An all clear has now been given and normal business is continuing.



Doors to the House of Commons and the House of Lords were briefly sealed after a white powder was thrown in the Lobby that joins each chamber.

Chemical experts moved quickly to analyse the substance. A large contingent of MPs and Lords were still in the building and were detained by police after it was seen that they had walked through the powder.

A man has been detained, no details are being released at this time.

[edit on 7-6-2006 by Nerdling]

[edit on 7-6-2006 by Nerdling]

[edit on 7-6-2006 by Nerdling]

[edit on 12/6/2006 by Mirthful Me]

Well, where is the link?
Deleted? Why?

Experts are testing the powder at the moment. Black Rod is quoted as saying that a lot of people have trodden in this powder. The "anthrax" claim was apparently made by the guy who threw it before being detained.

www.sky.com...

Hopefully this is just another Fathers for Justice campaign, although they usualy advertise thier organisation when they pull a stunt like this.

Parliment doors are still locked, business seems to going on as usual in the chambers, i'm watching BBC Parliment and they are'nt batting an eyelid.

CX.

[edit on 7/6/06 by CX]

[edit on 7/6/06 by CX]

A senior policeman has just given the all clear. People are going back inside now.

CX.

SkyNews reporting that it's not Anthrax. The gates are now open and people are able to move freely.

No comments yet though.

does this happen alot then.

Originally posted by andy1033
does this happen alot then.

The Fathers For Justice group threw purple powder from the pubilc gallery a while ago, hitting Tony Blair in the back.

www.cnn.com...

Whilst i sypathize with thier cause, thier methods are dangerous and irresponsible.

CX.

do they have a portable laboratory in parliament or something? thats a pretty fast response to conclude it wasnt athrax or another baddie powder. it didnt even make the headline of the bbc website before being declared a false alarm.

it probably was a fathers for justice member, but i am concerned that maybe the powder wasnt tested if the culprit claimed to the police when caught that it was harmless.

Apparently the powder has the consistency of baking powder.

Sky is reporting that a man was screaming "You could all be dead! You could all be dead!".

The Central lobby isn't generally open to the public either.

Hmmm, bag of "white powder" found in Palace of Westminster? Why am I not surprised? At least now we have a clue as to what fuels the arrogance of the government.

even if where anthrax would the british not have an antidote. whats the point.

[edit on 7-6-2006 by andy1033]

BBC reporting that the man was also screaming "Anthrax, Anthrax"

Originally posted by Nerdling
BBC reporting that the man was also screaming "Anthrax, Anthrax"

Was he a heavy metal fan...sorry, couldn't resist.

Originally posted by justyc
do they have a portable laboratory in parliament or something? thats a pretty fast response to conclude it wasnt athrax or another baddie powder. it didnt even make the headline of the bbc website before being declared a false alarm.

it probably was a fathers for justice member, but i am concerned that maybe the powder wasnt tested if the culprit claimed to the police when caught that it was harmless.

The Sky News correspondant said that parliment has it's own bio/chem team situated there now, so they would have been able to test the powder pretty quick. It was mentioned that they still are'nt using chemical monitoring equipment that is available yet. These are apparently placed at the entrances and can detect anything of interest.

CX.

They do have a rapid response team that has full CBRN response and analysis capability.

They would be the first line of defence, there are other various elements including pressurised chambers and buses incase people need to be evacuated. There are also internal shelters.

What's really scary is the lack of security in the Houses of Parliament. Surely people entering the Houses should be searched?

Originally posted by xeroxed88
What's really scary is the lack of security in the Houses of Parliament. Surely people entering the Houses should be searched?

Well the security spokesman for Parliment earlier played down that it was definately a security mishap, although of course they'll say this at first. He said that as the building was open to the public, and people are usualy searched, they could quite easily walk in with nothing, and then buy talcum powder in one of the stores in Parliment.

CX.

[edit on 7/6/06 by CX]

Originally posted by KhieuSamphan

Originally posted by Nerdling
BBC reporting that the man was also screaming "Anthrax, Anthrax"

Was he a heavy metal fan...sorry, couldn't resist.

That was a good one