Gunman scare shuts city centre

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33815, 11 April 1975, Page 1

Gunman scare shuts city centre

Cathedral Square was closed to traffic and pedestrians were cleared from around the new A.M.P. building last night after telephone calls to a Christchurch radio station and to the police said an armed man was on the site of the new Noah’s Hotel.

The call to the police came at 5.55 p.m. from a public call-box. The caller gave a false name and address. Traffic officers and extra policemen were called in to cordon off the Square, and 20 policemen searched the Noah’s Hotel and A.M.P. complex.

Nothing was found to confirm the telephone caller’s report, and the Square was opened again at 8.15 p.m. A similar telephone call was received by a Christchurch radio station just before the call to the police.

At the time of the search, the visiting Prime .Minister of Singapore (Mr I.ee Kuan Yew) was entertaining about 50 guests at a cocktail party. No-one at the party was aware of rhe tension across the road.

Apart from the policemen involved, perhaps the man most directly affected by the incident was the manager of the Avon Theatre (Mr Trevor King). Because the police cordoned off Worcester Street between the Regent corner and the Clarendon Hotel, no-one was permitted to reach the theatre, and so the night’s screening of “Juggernaut” had to be cancelled. The cordon prevented more than KOO ticketholders from going to see the film.

Mr King said persons holding tickets had the option of a refund or of transferring their bookings to another night. The Christchurch police svas stretcneS during alarm because of an armed man in a house in New Brighton. Although the man gave himself up soon after the police arrived a spokesman for the police said they were “a bit thin on the ground." having to cope with two emergencies at once and still maintain normal policing activities.