London Under Siege!!!

Big Nasty · 27-04-2012 1:59pm #1

HUNDREDS of office workers and shoppers have been evacuated in London after a suspected bomber stormed a building and reportedly took four hostages.

People near the scene reported shots being fired and said computers and equipment had been thrown out of the windows of the office block housing the Huffington Post.

Businesses and shoppers were evacuated from Tottenham Court Road in central London at midday.

Staff from news website The Huffington Post UK were evacuated from their building after a man reportedly wearing a gas canister threatened to blow himself up in the adjoining building, they said.

Huffington Post UK executive editor Stephen Hull posted a video on Twitter of an office worker who saw the man enter the building.

Abby Baafi, 27, the head of training and operations at Advantage, a company which offers HGV courses, told Mr Hull the man had targeted her offices and was currently holding four men hostage.

In a video posted on YouTube, she said: "What happened is, we were in the office and someone came in. He asked him what his name was and he said it was Michael Green.

"I recognised him because he was one of our previous customers but he is not quite stable - mentally stable.

"He turned up, strapped up with gasoline cylinders, and threatened to blow up the office.

"He said he doesn't care about his life. He doesn't care about anything, he is going to blow up everybody.

"He was specifically looking for me but I said 'My name's not Abby' and he let me go."

Ms Baafi said the man failed the HGV training course and wanted his money back.

Scotland Yard said it had sent a negotiator to the scene after reports of a man throwing furniture out of a window several floors up.

Joaqam Ramus, who works at nearby Cafe Fresco, said before being evacuated: "There was talk of a bomb and somebody having a hostage in a building.

"All Tottenham Court Road is closed and so are we - the police told us to shut.

"We don't know what it is but it seems someone has a hostage."

A spokesman for Transport for London could not confirm details of the ongoing operation but confirmed they were "aware of an incident".

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/video-major-alert-in-london-as-bomber-takes-four-hostages-3094355.html

What is the world coming to?

Duggy747 · 27-04-2012 2:01pm

Get Seagal, quick!!

Born to Die · 27-04-2012 2:01pm

Doubt he has a bomb.

Office worker having a breakdown, me thinks.

davet82 · 27-04-2012 2:02pm

seems he didnt get a HGV licence and has nothing to live for... fcukin nutjob

Pherekydes · 27-04-2012 2:02pm

London? What, all of it?

Dravokivich · 27-04-2012 2:03pm

Duggy747 wrote: »

Get Seagal, quick!!

General: Ryback, what was he doing in Buckingham Palace?
DC Officer: A yorkshire pudding for the Queen.

FatherLen · 27-04-2012 2:04pm

holy shit! hope nobody gets hurt.

ThisRegard · 27-04-2012 2:04pm

Good to see the headline writer in the Sun is not too busy to post on boards.

biko · 27-04-2012 2:05pm

One guy isn't a siege.

afatbollix · 27-04-2012 2:05pm

Live on sky news... Sky chopper is in the air

woop woop

Born to Die · 27-04-2012 2:07pm

biko wrote: »

Do you know what siege means?

Yes.

Dravokivich · 27-04-2012 2:07pm

afatbollix wrote: »

Live on sky news... Sky copper is in the air

woop woop

Hope that copper has a glide or a parachute or something. :pac:

Thrill · 27-04-2012 2:08pm

They're saying he had 4 canisters on him.

Hopefully he's just blowing off some steam.

Born to Die · 27-04-2012 2:08pm

afatbollix wrote: »

Live on sky news... Sky copper is in the air

woop woop

Is the copper in a chopper?

partyatmygaff · 27-04-2012 2:09pm

afatbollix wrote: »

Live on sky news... Sky copper is in the air

woop woop

It's good to see that London is putting its flying policemen to use.

BraziliaNZ · 27-04-2012 2:10pm

Idiot ruined my lunch break! I might get out of work early if it kicks off though!

Big Nasty · 27-04-2012 2:21pm

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Idiot ruined my lunch break! I might get out of work early if it kicks off though!

Live from the scene we have foreign correspondent BraziliaNZ!:D

Born to Die · 27-04-2012 2:22pm

Named as Michael Green. Seems he is having a bad day.

bwatson · 27-04-2012 2:27pm

Latest news - INTERPOL's hostage negotiator-in-chief, codenamed "Gazza", is en route.

Statistician · 27-04-2012 2:33pm

OSI wrote: »

"He turned up, strapped up with gasoline cylinders, and threatened to blow up the office."

Not going to blow up much with a few petrol cans in all fairness.

He could splash loads of petrol around the place and ignite the fumes. Would that cause a blast?

theteal · 27-04-2012 2:33pm

Pherekydes wrote: »

London? What, all of it?

indeed, i'm in london and this thread is the first i've seen or heard of it. . .oh well, back to work

BraziliaNZ · 27-04-2012 2:33pm

my brother passed his HGV recently thank god!

Kiera · 27-04-2012 2:35pm

theteal wrote: »

indeed, i'm in london and this thread is the first i've seen or heard of it. . .oh well, back to work

Same with my little bro. Rang him just there and he hadnt a clue what i was talking about.

Thrill · 27-04-2012 2:36pm

Statistician wrote: »

He could splash loads of petrol around the place and ignite the fumes. Would that cause a blast?

Well he's got four hostages last I heard. He could douse them in fuel and set them alight.

ejmaztec · 27-04-2012 2:45pm

Thrill wrote: »

Well he's got four hostages last I heard. He could douse them in fuel and set them alight.

Given the price of petrol, they'll go out of their way to make sure he doesn't do that.

FatherLen · 27-04-2012 2:47pm

Thrill wrote: »

Well he's got four hostages last I heard. He could douse them in fuel and set them alight.

apparently he only has one now.

SEPT 23 1989 · 27-04-2012 2:49pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_yWyBjDEaU

Born to Die · 27-04-2012 2:49pm

Sky News really are giving the impression that they want him shot.

CreepingDeath · 27-04-2012 2:50pm

FatherLen wrote: »

apparently he only has one now.

When he gets released, he'd probably get a taxi licence here handy enough.

ejmaztec · 27-04-2012 2:52pm

FatherLen wrote: »

apparently he only has one now.

He's obvious as crap at keeping hostages as he is at taking his HGV test.

Stiffler2 · 27-04-2012 2:54pm

I think it's the guy that sells the windows on ads via TV

"I Say Ye buy 1, ye get 1 free - I say you BUY ONE YOU GET 1 FREE"

headcase...........

Burgo · 27-04-2012 2:55pm

OSI wrote: »

It's not even the main story on the BBC news website..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

Yeah but it is up there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17869815

mike65 · 27-04-2012 2:57pm

I like the guardian sub headline

Armed officers called out and central London street cordoned off after reports of man causing disturbance in office building

Burgo · 27-04-2012 3:01pm

mike65 wrote: »

I like the guardian sub headline

not to go completely off topic but it reminds me of line in the article on the bbc website about the ukraine bombing this morning;

No suspects have been identified yet and such an attack is unusual for Dnipropetrovsk.

44leto · 27-04-2012 3:07pm

It would be a difficult place to put under siege, to big.

afatbollix · 27-04-2012 3:09pm

Its over

Born to Die · 27-04-2012 3:11pm

afatbollix wrote: »

Its over

Thank God.

Burgo · 27-04-2012 3:12pm

afatbollix wrote: »

Its over

no update on bbc thus far.

SEPT 23 1989 · 27-04-2012 3:21pm

WORST SIEGE EVER!

Latchy · 27-04-2012 3:27pm

Thread title misleading and OTT .

ejmaztec · 27-04-2012 3:37pm

Dravokivich wrote: »

General: Ryback, what was he doing in Buckingham Palace?
DC Officer: A yorkshire pudding for the Queen.

I think in the case, Seagal would be putting together some siege and onion stuffing.

Anyone · 27-04-2012 3:56pm

Send in Gazza

ejmaztec · 27-04-2012 3:57pm

London's Armageddon bloodbath slaughter is now over.

We will never forget. 4/12

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0427/breaking31.html

CardBordWindow · 27-04-2012 4:03pm

My sister is in college not far from there. She text that there were police guarding the entrance to the college. She was amazed that I could tell her more information about it than the police could!

FatherLen · 27-04-2012 4:07pm

CardBordWindow wrote: »

My sister is in college not far from there. She text that there were police guarding the entrance to the college. She was amazed that I could tell her more information about it than the police could!

TECHNOLOGY!!!

CardBordWindow · 27-04-2012 4:09pm

FatherLen wrote: »

TECHNOLOGY!!!

Exactly!
The power of technology combined with too much free time, is extraordinary!

CardBordWindow · 27-04-2012 4:12pm

OSI wrote: »

There's a reason the cops don't go around shouting "Hey don't panic or anything, but there's a bloke going around with gas canisters strapped to himself and taking hostages. So err, if you could stay on this side of the line, that'd be chipper thanks"

At least I could tell her it was just some disgruntled customer, and not some extremist group.