The Five Demands

Terminato lo stato di allerta a Derry

Un’esplosione controllata ha posto fine allo stato di allerta scattato questa mattina a Derry alle 9.50 circa, dopo il ritrovamento di un oggetto sospetto nella carreggiata superiore del Craigavon Bridge.
A un certo punto la polizia aveva annunciato che avrebbe potuto essere necessario tagliare la fornitura di gas dal lato della città, al fine di permettere agli aritificeri dell’esercito di esaminare il dispositivo. Soluzione poi fortunatamente non adottata.
Agenti del PSNI armati di mitragliatrice hanno cordonato il ponte per la durata dell’allerta che ha richiesto l’interruzione del traffico pesante nelle aree di Duke Street, Spencer Road e Victoria Road.
In una dichiarazione al Londonderry Sentinel, l’assessore del DUP William Hay ha affermato che l’allarme sicurezza di oggi ha causato gravi danni alla vita commerciale della città.
“Ha causato la congestione del traffico maggiore per le persone che desiderano semplicemente potersi spostare da un capo all’altro della città”.
“Il commercio in questa città non può permettersi una perdita commerciale nel bel mezzo di questa recessione. La gente non può permettersi di perdere i soldi. E ‘abbastanza difficile in questo clima, e vediamo queste persone (dissidenti) aggiungere altre difficoltà”.

Bridge reopens (Londonderry Sentinel)
A controlled explosion had been carried out on a suspect device on Craigavon Bridge.
Police confirmed at 10am this morning that a suspect object had been located on the upper deck of the structure.
At one point police said it may have been necessary to cut the gas supply to the city side in order to allow Army bomb disposal experts to examine the device. However, the security forces have said that this was not necessary.
PSNI officers armed with automatic machine guns are currently guarded the cordons at the bridge during the alert.
Heavy traffic disruption through the areas at Duke Street, Spencer Road and Victoria Road was prevalent during the alert.
This is the second time inside a year that the bridge has been targeted in this manner. Dissident republicans were blamed for leaving a suspect device inside a van on the lower deck of Craigavon Bridge on the run up to last July’s Orange Order parade in the city.
In the event of that alert the bridge remained sealed for over twenty four hours and cause massive disruption to traffic and to trade in the city.
Speaking to the Sentinel, DUP Alderman William Hay said that the latest incident caused “major problems for commercial life in Londonderry.”
The DUP man also said: “This has caused major traffic congestion for people simply wanting to get from one side of the city to the other.
“Commerce in this city cannot afford this loss of trade in the midst of this recession. People cannot afford to loose the money. It is difficult enough in this climate, and still we see these people adding to the difficulties.”
Traffic has begun to flow freely again across all parts of the city.