Posted on 12/12/2004 3:40:21 PM PST by wagglebee
MADRID (AFP) - More than 70,000 people were evacuated from Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium following a bomb scare, club sources confirmed.
The alert came after an anonymous caller to the Basque newspaper Gara claimed that the armed separatist movement ETA had planted a bomb in the stadium which was hosting a Primera Liga game between Real Madrid and Basque side Real Sociedad and it would explode at 21:00 local time (20:00 GMT).
Police informed the referee just a minute before the game was due to finish with the score at 1-1. The players returned to the locker rooms and spectators were allowed to exit by the pitch. The stands were cleared within ten minutes at 20:50 (19:50 GMT).
However at 20:45 GMT, police declared the stadium to be safe, saying no explosives had been found despite thorough searches by sniffer dogs.
Players and pitch officials returned to take their showers and Madrid officials were able to come back into their offices.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said that they believed that the alert had been a hoax.
"Everything seems to indicate that it was a false alarm," Perez told Spanish television. "The evacuation went smoothly and without problem. People left the stadium quickly without running and at a normal pace.
"It's the positive side of such an unpleasant thing. Things like that shouldn't happen because nobody understands what can be gained from it."
Officials of both clubs will now meet at the Spanish football federation in the Madrid suburbs early Monday to discuss what should happen now, according to private Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.
One option, reported Cadena Ser, was that the match could be completed on Monday however a Real Sociedad official said the club favoured the 1-1 scoreline being made the official result.
Earlier Sunday two makeshift bombs went off outside two businesses in Spain's Basque country, injuring no one but causing material damage.
Regional authorities blamed the explosions on Basque separatist movement ETA, which has claimed responsibility for a string of low-intensity blasts around Spain that left five people slightly injured earlier this month.
On May 1 2002, just before a semi-final Champions League fixture, an ETA bomb exploded in a car beside the stadium, injuring 17 people.
And in November information was discovered by police that the venue was a possible target for islamic extremists. In March, bombs placed by them exploded in trains in the Madrid suburbs killing 191 and injuring 1900.
I am sorry to say this, but it servers them right. The threats, the assassinations, the desperation, the angst will continue as long as they have the spineless Zapatero as President. That man ans his appeasement policy is only inviting further terrorist activity by ETA, AlQaeda, etc. The Spaniards made this bed now they have to sleep on it. No sympathy from here.
I agree with you, I don't want to see innocent people murdered, but they made the decision (overwhelmingly) to appease the terrorists. What they don't seem to understand is that the barbarian terrorists cannot be "reasoned" with and their "promises" mean nothing.
Just so everyone knows, the ETA aren't muslims. They're just your normal militant leftists.
Wow, a 1-1 tie in a soccer game. My only question is, how did they know only a minute was left? Doesn't the clock count up in soccer?
Terrrorists are terrorists, ethnicity doesn't matter.
Ha! That's one way to make sure your team doesn't lose.
Wish I would've thought of this when the Lions had a 13-0 lead at Lambeau, err I mean Lambert, Field today.
Actually, it's up to the referee to decide how much time is left in the game. There's no oficial clock, leading to the popular scream "ref, it's time!" from the fans of a winning team any time during the last 10 minutes of a game! The Spanish newspaper "El Mundo" reports that there were not one but seven minutes left in the game (" cuando faltaban siete minutos para el final del partido").
Most important, who cares? They reap what they sowed... Besides, my family always rooted for the Real Madrid's eternal rivals: go, Atleti!
And that's why soccer's unwatchable to much of the American public (read: me). That and the constant 1-1 or 0-0 ties.
I am glad the cops evacuated Real Madrid's stadium, instead of Fake Madrid's stadium! ;)
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