Bomb alert at Palace of Justice

15 March 2007

BRUSSELS – Three suspicious packages were found in the Palace of Justice in Brussels on Thursday. Police say they were fake bombs. One of the three was detonated by DOVO, the army’s explosives unit.

The public prosecution department in Brussels refrained from further comment on the bomb alert. An announcement is expected tomorrow.

It has since emerged that the editorial offices at broadcaster RTBF and newspaper Le Soir received telephone calls reporting that bombs had been placed at the palace.

The journalist who answered the call at the RTBF said the message was spoken in French and sounded like it was recorded

The voice reported that it wanted to hit the justice department but did not want to hurt innocent people. It then said there were three packages in the palace of justice, one of which was real and would explode before noon.

Newspaper Le Soir received a similar phone call. The RTBF office alerted authorities immediately. Authorities searched the building and evacuated the palace of justice.

Press officer at the appeal court Guy Delovye said that the evacuation of the building was disorderly. No set evacuation routes were used apparently. Delovye says he’s not sure there even is an evacuation plan for the court building. He said he’s never taken part in an evacuation drill in the thirty years he’s worked there.

Subject: Belgian news