Broad Street locked down over the weekend
Video of Broad Street closure: Credit @snappersk
Birmingham's Broad Street nightlife district was locked down by armed police over the weekend as the London attack unfolded.
Amid fears that the Borough Market murders which claimed seven lives could be part of a wider terror plot, police were went to the city’s ‘Golden Mile’.
Officers sealed the entrances to Broad Street at Five Ways and Paradise Circus, turning away all traffic.
The lockdown was designed to prevent terrorists from speeding into the crowds, although there was no intelligence to suggest a specific attack.
As news of Saturday night’s London bombing broke, West Midlands Police put into action a pre-planned counter terror contingency plan.
A large number of officers was deployed to the area, which was already the scene of increased security patrols, and set about locking down the approaches.
Regular uniformed police were backed up by armed officers on standby, and police who arrived in unmarked cars.
The entrances remained closed from shortly after 11pm to 3am. Inside the secured zone, businesses remained open but trade dropped off as news spread.
West Midlands Police were quick to stress that it was a purely a ‘precautionary measure’ and there was no suggestion of a specific incident in Birmingham.
Rob Barnes, who lives in the city centre, said: