Hundreds evacuated from Jewish Labour event after bomb threat
2 min read
Hundreds of people were evacuated from a fringe event at Labour’s annual conference after a man called in a bomb threat, which later turned out to be a hoax.
Police rushed to the building in Liverpool’s Georgian quarter where pro-Corbyn group Jewish Voice for Labour were set to show a film about Jackie Walker, a former Labour member and Momentum vice-chair who was suspended from the party over anti-Semitism charges.
Organiser Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi said that a man called the venue with a credible threat about two devices shortly after 7pm.
“So, 15 minutes after the starting of the film, which is called the Political Lynching of Jackie Walker, the young receptionist picked up the phone”, she said.
“A man said ‘Is this Blackburne House? Is there a Jewish event going on?’ to which the receptionist said she knew it was a Labour event but she didn’t know if it was Jewish.
“And he said ‘it’s a big Jewish event, I want to say there are two bombs that will kill many people’.
“And then he put the phone down.”
Ms Wimborne-Idrissi said that she was “gobsmacked” by the threat.
“We hired extra security tonight because we know our film is controversial but we didn’t expect this kind of trouble”, she added.
“And it’s just terrible because it means a film about free speech is being suppressed.”
Jackie Walker was expelled from the party in 2016 for claiming it would "be wonderful if Holocaust day was open to all people who experienced holocaust".
Ms Walker, who was also removed from her influential post as vice-chair of Momentum, had earlier caused outrage by claiming Jewish people were "financiers of the sugar and slave trade".
A spokesperson for Merseyside Police told the Liverpool Echo they had attended the scene as a precaution.
They said: “We can confirm officers attended Blackburne Place in Liverpool city centre this evening following a malicious call.
“A report was received shortly after 7.20pm that the call had been made and staff at the building evacuated the premises as a precaution. Officers then attended and provided advice and reassurance at the scene and are treating the call as a hoax. The organisers have cancelled the event and closed the building.”
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