Popular Irish leisure complex evacuated after ‘suspicious object' found amid emergency services ‘do not attend' warning
The Dundonald Ice Bowl in
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Emergency services, including the
It is believed the package that was opened contained an unknown powder substance.
Issue a safety alert the arena warned people to stay away from the area.
They said: "We would like to advise residents that police and emergency services are currently onsite at the Dundonald International Ice Bowl, following the discovery of a suspicious item.
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'The centre has been safely evacuated and the PSNI advises the public to not attend the area.
'We will advise customers when the centre reopens again.'
Pirates Adventure Golf course located nearby also closed due to the incident.
However, it has since been confirmed that the incident has been resolved and the substance deemed not to be a risk.
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In a statement this evening the PSNI said: "At around 2.30pm this afternoon, Police received a report at around that a package had been opened containing an unknown substance.
'Police carried out a public safety operation in the area and the leisure complex was evacuated.
PSNI chief slams 'hateful and criminal behaviour' from 'far-right' 'thugs' in Belfast
'Colleagues from the NIFRS attended and examined the substance, which was determined not to be a risk."
They continued: 'Police seized the package and contents for further examination.
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"We would like to thank the public for their cooperation and all cordons have now been lifted.'
Separately in Down two people were hospitalised with "serious injuries" after
HORROR SMASH
The PSNI received a report at around 11pm that a car had collided with a number of people outside a licensed premises on Main Street.
It was reported that the driver had then turned around and drove off from the scene following the incident.
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'It was reported that the vehicle involved turned around and drove past the licensed premises again before making off from the scene.
'Officers, along with colleagues from NIAS attended the scene and two people were taken to hospital for treatment of their injuries, which have been described as serious."
The car was later discovered outside Walkers Lane.
A man was then arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and a number of driving offences.
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Emergency services gathered at the scene today
Credit: Pacemaker Press
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Irish Times
40 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Sally Rooney: I support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror' under UK law, so be it
On Saturday, August 9th, UK police arrested more than 500 peaceful protesters on suspicion of terror offences. The vast majority of these arrests took place on Parliament Square, London , where Irish citizens such as Sinéad Ní Shiacáis, from Limerick, were among those detained, but in Belfast too, a woman was arrested by the PSNI. These protesters were not engaged in any violent acts, nor were they promoting any violence against any living creatures at all. And yet they may now face life-altering terror charges, some of which could result in up to 14 years in prison. Why? Because, with a full understanding of the consequences, these brave individuals chose to express support for the protest group Palestine Action. Since its foundation in 2020, Palestine Action has primarily organised direct-action protests against weapons manufacturers: defacing buildings, breaking windows and occupying factories. This summer, as the UK continued to offer material and diplomatic support for the ongoing genocide in Gaza , activists broke into an RAF airbase and used spray-paint to vandalise two aircraft. The Government responded by proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, placing the group on the same legal footing as al-Qaeda and Islamic State. The group's cofounder, Huda Ammori, is now rightly fighting this designation in the courts, but in the meantime, any expression of support for Palestine Action, even a simple placard or T-shirt, constitutes a serious terror offence under UK law. Meanwhile, the Irish Government – along with virtually every humanitarian organisation worldwide – has recognised that Israel is committing genocide in Palestine . Genocide is the gravest of international crimes and, for most of us, quite aside from any legal framework, the most abhorrent wrong imaginable. Under the Genocide Convention, to which both Ireland and the UK are signatories, nation states have a duty not only to punish but also to prevent the commission of this incomparably horrifying crime. Activists who disrupt the flow of weapons to a genocidal regime may violate petty criminal statutes, but they uphold a far greater law and a more profound human imperative: to protect a people and culture from annihilation. But while Irish citizens – including potentially here on the island of Ireland – are accused of terrorism for protesting an acknowledged genocide, the Irish Government has so far remained silent. When our citizens are arrested under authoritarian regimes elsewhere, the State and its consular services tend to spring into action, or at least purport to, in order to defend the human rights of Irish passport holders. Now that the jurisdiction in question is located next door – and indeed closer still – our leaders seem curiously unwilling to act. If the Government in Dublin truly believes that Israel is committing genocide, how can it look elsewhere while its nearest neighbour funds and supports that genocide and its own citizens are arrested simply for speaking out? READ MORE Sally Rooney: 'The ramifications for cultural and intellectual life in the UK will be profound' The arrest of a protester in Belfast surely represents a particularly egregious example of political policing. When a storm damaged an infamous loyalist mural in north Belfast last year, rebuilding commenced immediately, and the wall is now once again emblazoned with the iconography of the Ulster Volunteer Force. No arrests were made on that basis, nor has the mural been taken down, though the UVF is a proscribed terrorist organisation responsible for the murders of hundreds of civilians. Palestine Action, proscribed under the same law, is responsible for zero deaths and has never advocated the use of violence against any human being. Why then are its supporters arrested for wearing T-shirts, while murals celebrating loyalist death squads are left untouched? Can the PSNI explain this demonstrably selective enforcement of anti-terror law? Perhaps the British state should investigate the shady organisations that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WH Smith and the BBC While protesters are labelled terrorists in the UK, Palestinian civilians are, of course, labelled terrorists by Israeli forces. But where UK protesters face trumped-up charges and prison sentences, Palestinians face violent death. Last weekend Israeli forces assassinated a team of Al Jazeera reporters in Gaza, including the renowned journalist Anas al-Sharif , whose work with Reuters was awarded the Pulitzer Prize last year. 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I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can. If the British state considers this 'terrorism', then perhaps it should investigate the shady organisations that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WH Smith and the BBC. Protesters in London last weekend. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA To ensure that the British public is made aware of my position, I would happily publish this statement in a UK newspaper – but that would now be illegal. The present UK Government has willingly stripped its own citizens of basic rights and freedoms, including the right to express and read dissenting opinions, in order to protect its relationship with Israel. The ramifications for cultural and intellectual life in the UK – where the eminent poet Alice Oswald has already been arrested, and an increasing number of artists and writers can no longer safely travel to Britain to speak in public – are and will be profound. But as Sinéad Ní Shiacáis said after her arrest last weekend: 'We are not the story; the Palestinian people are the story. They are begging people to give them a voice.' Palestine Action has been among the strongest of those voices in the UK, taking direct steps to halt the seemingly unstoppable machinery of violence. We owe their courageous activists our gratitude and solidarity. And by now, almost two years into a live-streamed genocide, we owe the people of Palestine more than mere words. Sally Rooney is a novelist
Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
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The Journal
11 hours ago
- The Journal
Councillors wear Palestine Action t-shirts in Newry as PSNI issues warning ahead of protests
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