Oxford Circus Tube station evacuated by London police

[OMGitsDAVE]

Passengers have been evacuated from Oxford Circus Tube station in central London because of an emergency, British Transport Police has said.

Several police vans have been parked outside the station, at the junction of Oxford Street and Regent Street.

Police said they would be issuing further information shortly.

Oxford Circus serves the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria Lines, and has been busy throughout the evening owing to late-night Thursday shopping.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16103029

 

[tsr]

I was literally just about to post that. I passed through the station once and used it four times today. Good thing I wasn't there... I am assuming either suspected terrorism or a public order incident.

EDIT: I have just seen someone post this on Twitter:

Just been stuck in the tubes for ages thanks to some wonderful protesters taking over Oxford circus tube... #annoyingandpointless

EDIT2: Some more Twitter "news":

So I'm caught in a riot/protest at Oxford circus. Lovely.

Hence the riot vans parked outside.

 

[OMGitsDAVE]

Further BBC:

Police said they would issue more details shortly but it is understood passenger alarms were deliberately activated on at least one train.

The matter is believed to be connected to a protest about the current political situation in Congo.

 

[ushawk]

This cant just be me thinking this, but what the hell does activating alarms on tube trains have to do with The Congo ? Very weird protesters then

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Just causing as much disruption as possible, something that happens quite a lot with some protest / pressure groups.

Having said that, maybe a member of the public did it as they thought something was unsafe?

 

[tsr]

From an earlier message from the CommunitySafe scheme - a system that's designed to alert locals, businesses and councils about incidents - it appeared they dispersed into Westminster tube station after protesting with a few arrests but no major problems. The protest was, however, unplanned. The protesters must have taken assorted tube trains to Oxford Circus and set the alarms off.

I believe they also soiled the trains, which must be quite unpleasant...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
A video of chaos: http://yfrog.com/nrxi0z

The BBC article above clarifies that it closed from 2130-2200. I presume all is now reasonably OK.

 

[BestWestern]

What a bunch of idiots. I'm sure David Cameron will put that 'issue' at the top of his priorities now that a few nutters have soiled and temporarily delayed a tube train, morons. Hopefully a bit of plucky cockney spirit came to the fore and somebody chinned them. I do sincerely hope that they were arrested so that they can spend the night 'soiling' a police cell and sitting in their own 5hite

Anti-terrorism law comes to mind, try doing that on a plane at Heathrow.

 

[trentside]

The protestors were apparently put onto a train to Seven Sisters from where they were dispersed. I'm not sure whether any arrests were made.

 

[tsr]

The protestors were apparently put onto a train to Seven Sisters from where they were dispersed. I'm not sure whether any arrests were made.

I'm surprised they didn't ruin that train (and the running of the line for the evening). Let's hope that no news is good news...

 

[bb21]

If they did soil the train, a fitting punishment would be to get them to clean it up, or to pay for all the damages they caused.

There are different ways to protest: the right way and the stupid way.

 

[trentside]

If they did soil the train, a fitting punishment would be to get them to clean it up, or to pay for all the damages they caused.

Presumably that was the reason for taking them to Seven Sisters so the train could be taken straight to Northumberland Park depot to repair any vandalism or other soiling. Not fair on the staff at all, pity these people weren't made to clean up their mess.