Apparent Hostage Situation in Spanish Consulate
Unknown persons have apparently taken several person hostages in the Spanish consulate. These are reports from Spanish and Berne radio. Spanish teletext is saying there is also an injured person. A consulate representative spoke of one or two hostages to the news agency Reuters.
After the report came in to the city police at 8.10, officials closed down a wide area surrounding the facility. The federation's hostage and extortion SWAT team of was said to have been activated.
Police spokeswoman Franziska Freyr said, when asked, that the event hadn't been classified as minor. An employee of the Spanish consulate said, when questioned bytelephone, that she couldn't give out any information.
Stand: 2-7-2005 10:41 U
"tagesschau.de".... Offenbar Geiselnahme in spanischem Konsulat
.....and, adding these paragraphs from "Spiegel"....
A Spanish diplomat was questioned by news station CNN about a possible terrorist background. He said that it didn’t look like it at the moment.
According to the reports on news station N24, an injured person has been taken away. The situation is quiet but very tense at the moment. According to other reports, sharpshooters have been moved in. Ambulances are at the scene.
"Spiegel"....Polizei umstellt spanisches Konsulat in Bern
Translated by longjack
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