First Young Patriots Day interrupted by bomb scare

The Ministry of Education and the September Celebrations Committee rounded up students at the Bliss Centre for the first Young Patriots Day. The event featured a line up of patriotic performances by primary and high school students representing each district. While the weather conditions prevented some northern schools from making the trip to Belize City, it was still expected to whip patriotic fervour among the students; that is until it was interrupted by a bomb threat at the Magistrates’ Court. News Five’s Delahnie Bain was at the Bliss to cover the Patriots Day event and ended up in the middle of the evacuation during the bomb scare which interrupted the flow of business for about an hour. Here’s her report.

Delahnie Bain, Reporting

The Young Patriots Day talent showcase, brought hundreds of students from around the country to the Bliss Center for Performing Arts this morning. But in the middle of the third performance, the show was interrupted and the building was evacuated because of a bomb threat at the nearby courthouse.

Leroy Green, Nat’l Coord. for Expressive Arts, Ministry of Education

leroy green

“It was a program dedicated to the Day of Young Patriots and the Stann Creek Ecumenical Band was on stage playing some up-tempo selections when the police came into the Bliss and told me that I had to abort the show as they were evacuating everyone from the area since there was a bomb threat in the Magistrates Court, which is adjacent to the Bliss.”

The students, ministry personnel and the Bliss staff appeared clam as they spilled onto the street. Meanwhile, another crowd was being evacuated from surrounding businesses. Traffic was redirected, police cordoned off the area and B.D.F. Chief of Staff and Bomb Expert, Lieutenant Colonel David Jones was called in to lead the search.

Lt. Col. David Jones, B.D.F. Chief of Staff/Bomb Expert

lt. col. david jones

“The clerk received a call about ten twenty this morning from a male person stating that they placed a bomb in the building and they need to get out of the building now. They took the necessary action, everyone was evacuated. The adjacent buildings were also evacuated. The police came in, they did the cordon. I was called, I came to the scene and extended the cordon and then I did a search of the building. After the search was conducted, there was nothing in the building.”

After the all clear, Jones told us that he has been called to numerous sites for bomb scares, but never at the courthouse.

Lt. Col. David Jones

“At the courtroom, this is the first time I have attended one and I don’t know of any that have happened in the past. As far as I am concerned this is the first time we had a threat at the court building.”

As for Patriots Day, it has not yet been decided if the event will be rescheduled.

Leroy Green

“The districts have expressed that they would like it to come back and we would really like to have it again. It’s the first of its kind and it’s something positive for young people because we had performances from primary schools and high schools countrywide from each districts and there were some young patriots who were supposed to be honoured with a certificate from the Minister of Education and Youth also. We couldn’t even get to that part of the program.”

But Green says the youths can still look forward to the Children’s Rally later this week.

Leroy Green

“That’s going to be this Friday, nine o’clock at the M.C.C. Grounds. Everything has been set for that. We have the school’s who will be performing, the main address will be done by the honourable Patrick Faber, there will be an inspirational address by Mrs. Carol Babb and also we have asked two of the top PSE performers in the district to also give inspirational addresses along with several performances by schools from Belize City. We’re hoping that goes off okay.”

Delahnie Bain for News Five.

The students also missed out on a surprise performance by Ernestine Carballo, who won the Carnival Road March Song of the Year.