Prague, June 1 (CTK) – The session of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Czech parliament, was terminated ahead of schedule on Wednesday due to an anonymous threat with an improvised explosive device being placed on its premises, according to CTK sources.
The session will continue on Thursday morning.
Chamber of Deputies chairman Jan Hamacek (senior government Social Democrats, CSSD) asked deputies to vote on interrupting the session. He acted on the basis of the police security service’s information, CTK has found out.
The police searched the lower house seat previously and closed the access streets to the building.
The police detained the man suspected of the threats. On the same day, he sent bomb threats to other facilities, such as the Prague zoo, the airport and a cafe in Zurich, Switzerland.
The police also evacuated the building of the public Czech Television (CT) due to an unspecified threat late in the afternoon on Wednesday. All people who do not directly participate in broadcasting had to leave.
A bomb was also reported in the Institute in Criminology in Prague yesterday. Neither the Institute nor the Chamber of Deputies were evacuated over the threats.
An anonymous perpetrator threatened with a bomb in the lower house in mid-December, 2015. However, it was before a session and did not affect it.
In the past, an anonymous perpetrator reported by phone a plastic explosive in the lower house session room in January 1993, during a debate on the presidential election. The man confessed to the police.
In March, the police detained a man who addressed bomb threats to various significant persons and institutions in the Czech Republic, including the Chamber of Deputies, 16 times.
