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TUBE PASSENGERS FLEE AS NEW ALERT HITS CAPITAL By PA Reporters Terrified Tube passengers were evacuated from trains today as police dealt with "incidents" at three different London Underground stations. Emergency services were also called to a bus in east London amid reports there was a device on board. Passengers evacuated from Warren Street Tube station reported seeing smoke in the carriages before the evacuation. There were also unconfirmed reports of an explosion but no early reports of any casualties at any of "incidents". It is two weeks to the day since the London bombings, when three suicide bombers detonated bombs on Tube trains in the capital and a fourth blew himself up on a bus. Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was travelling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when she was evacuated from a train at Warren Street. "I was sitting in the carriage reading a book and I smelt something burning, like wiring or tyres, and it just got more intense. "Suddenly people panicked and started screaming and were walking on each other's backs trying to get the hell out of there. "I couldn't move, I didn't know what to do, whether to run or not. "People ran and left their shoes and belongings when they smelt the burning," Mr Mohellavi said. A British Transport Police spokeswoman said Warren Street, Shepherds Bush and Oval stations had all been evacuated. She said the incidents were "ongoing". Underground services were suspended as the alert spread. Services on the Victoria and Northern lines were suspended. London fire brigade said there were reports of smoke coming from Oval station, which crews were investigating. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "Emergency services personnel are responding to reports of incidents at three locations on the Underground - the Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd's Bush." An Underground spokeswoman said: "We are responding to reports of incidents at Warren Street and the Oval. There are no reports of any casualties at this stage. "We have suspended three lines, the Hammersmith & City, Victoria and Northern." Victoria Line passenger Ivan McCracken claimed a traveller's rucksack had exploded on the Tube outside Warren Street station. He told Sky News: "I was in a middle carriage and the train was not far short of Warren Street station when suddenly the door between my carriage and the next one burst open and dozens of people started rushing through. Some were falling, there was mass panic. "It was difficult to get the story from any of them what had happened but when I got to ground level there was an Italian young man comforting an Italian girl who told me he had seen what had happened. "He said that a man was carrying a rucksack and the rucksack suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open the rucksack. "The man then made an exclamation as if something had gone wrong. At that point everyone rushed from the carriage." Mr McCracken said he smelled smoke but did not see any injured passengers. A London Ambulance spokesman said: "We are currently responding with other emergency services to incidents at Warren Street, Shepherd's Bush and Oval. "We were called to Oval at 12.38pm and sent three ambulance vehicles. "We were called to Warren Street at 12.45pm and sent five vehicles. "We will shortly confirm details of the incident at Shepherd's Bush. "At this time there are no reports of casualties at any of the scenes." Prime Minister Tony Blair cancelled a visit to east London this afternoon as events unfolded. London Mayor Ken Livingstone also cancelled a visit this afternoon to the Family Assistance Centre set up to help victims of the July 7 blasts in light of the current Tube incidents, a spokeswoman from Westminster Council confirmed.
-------------------- "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride"
Registered: Mar 1999
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Apparently UCH has been closed off and armed police have entered. No word why, although BBC News 24 is reporting one casualty, probably the person who detonated one of the things (apparently just the detonator components of bombs).
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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So far, everyone's more concerned with the cricket. Despite dismissing Australia for 190 all out, England is now running at about 25 for 5! Pathetic and paltry doesn't even begin to describe it! It's a disaster!
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Well, it was pretty inevitable. Every time the pundits start saying 'England have a real chance this time', they lose.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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I haven't got a job at the moment, which is annoying, but I do get to watch the cricket, which is good. Swings and roundabouts.
As for the tube thing, I'm waiting for more news.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Update: Looks like the same types of bombs as last time, except main explosive appears to have gone past it's best before date, and didn't go off. One suspect was seen with wires sticking out of hos back running into a hospital, however they didn't find him. Another bomb was found over the weekend, but didn't go off. 3 people have been arrested, but are not the bombers.
Unfortunatly, there's been abit of an accident. The police are operating a shoot to kill policy, aiming for the head as disabling shots would leave a suicide bomber a chance to set something off, and body shots could trigger any explosives around the body. On friday, plain clothes armed police from SO19 (we don't normaly arm the police, but when we do, we don't mess about. SO19 carry automatics, machine guns and shotguns) chased a man wearing a larger jacket on a warm day into a underground station. He jumped the barriers, and they chased him onto the platford and shot him dead when he got on a train. However it's turned out he was a legal worker in this country from brazil.
I think we should add to the usual underground warning messages "mind the gap", "keep all luggage with you" and "mind the doors", the warning "If someone yells 'stop, armed police', stop."
I am truly sorry for this guy and his family, and I do agree that this should be fully investigated, but with what is going on at the moment, I can't blame the police's actions.
-------------------- Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil...prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon...
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And yet- he ran. Why? Not that it's his fault he died, but panicking when the cops are involved never helps...
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
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I guess we will never know now, will we?
Registered: Nov 1999
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The BBC have just announced that his visa had just expired. Which might explain why he ran (although in brazil, judging by the police death squads in Rio, running from armed police is probably a good idea). But why onto the tube, what was he thinking? Poor sod.
-------------------- Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil...prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon...
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More to the point, why did they let him take a bus journey but only intervene when he was about to get on the tube?
No, this is an outrage which I'm sure will end in murder charges somewhere down the line. Despite what they're saying, there is some question about the sort of jacket he was wearing and its actual bulkiness. And as to whether or not he actually jumped the barriers. Being an illegal and coming from a culture that tolerates the existence of police death-squads may explain his actions but no way does it excuse the police theirs.
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I don't think we need to evoke fear of Brazilian police death squads in this case. After all, the people who were chasing the suspect were not "police" in a readily apparent way, but rather "armed men in civilian clothing", shouting a lot.
Whether the poor suspect recognized them for cops or not, his reaction seems universally understandable: in most countries of the world, running probably is the right thing to do when facing firearm-carrying people... (If they want you dead, you're dead no matter what you do. If they want something else, they won't get it if you run, and shooting won't help them in getting it then, either.)
According to the Washington Post article that was repeated in the local paper here, witnesses didn't hear the police claim to be police. Basically, it seems that, as far as the guy knew, he was being chased by a bunch of random guys with guns. Of course he ran.
And the mayor of London said, "This tragedy has added another victim to the toll of deaths for which the terrorists bear responsibility." What a dick.
Registered: Mar 1999
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I really don't see why everyone's so surprised, this was bound to happen sooner or later with the tension and everything. How many times haven't kids gotten shot in LA for looking like a liquor store robber (being black)? If anything, this will set a precedent that will make the police (or SO-19) look over their procedures slightly, if only to catch less flak in the future.
Registered: Aug 1999
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Eight times. They shot him in the head eight times. With a semi-automatic pistol. Somebody aimed their weapon at the head of a restrained man and pulled the trigger eight times. I just wish Kate hadn't said while watching the news last night: "That poor guy. What do you think went through his head?" This shouldn't be a topic that makes you crack up. . .
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