Hundreds of members of the controversial religious sect Falun Gong had to be evacuated from a Hong Kong hotel yesterday when a bomb threat was called in.
About 1,600 people were forced to leave the BP International hotel on Austin Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, when someone called a police emergency hotline at 11:15am and said a bomb had been spotted on the premises, the SCMP reports.
At the time, around 1,000 members of Falun Gong – a controversial group that has been branded an evil cult and banned in mainland China – were holding their annual conference in the hotel’s main hall. There was also a group of anti-Falun Gong activists protesting outside.
A search of the hotel saw a suspicious box turned up by police in the downstairs men’s toilet. Wrapped in gift paper (how thoughtful), it contained five 25cm-long liquefied gas canisters hooked up to two timers.
Bomb disposal robots were deployed, but the device could not have caused an explosion, according to a police commander.
Maybe it was just the weirdest present ever.
