More (possible?) disturbance this weekend

We had already been prepared for the possibly disruptive demonstrations in the City Centre squares on Saturday.
(If you hadn’t heard, then click here for police briefing.)

Now we learn that Birmingham Resilience are holding an emergency planning exercise in the city centre on Sunday.

“Birmingham Shield is the latest in a series of exercises organised by the Birmingham Resilience Team, and will assess how prepared the city would be in the event of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) incident.

Police, firefighters, ambulance, hospital and other emergency personnel from across the region will be involved, alongside 100 volunteers playing the part of injured and uninjured survivors.

 The event will see a small number of road restrictions put in place in the Broad Street area, to ensure the safety of volunteers and to accommodate the vehicles and equipment needed to respond to the incident.The roads affected during the exercise will have restricted access between 8am and 1.30pm. The exercise is not in response to any specific threat, but is part of an ongoing programme of exercises to ensure Birmingham is thoroughly prepared for a range of major emergencies and disasters, should the worst case scenario ever unfold.”

So don’t be alarmed if you come across some unusual activity in Centenary Square and surrounds during Sunday morning. It’s not a real emergency, just a practice.

.  .  .  .  .  and then we’ve got Halloween on Monday!