SYDNEY — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese evacuated his official residence in Canberra for a few hours on Tuesday evening following a bomb scare connected to a Chinese dance and music group banned by Beijing, according to national broadcaster ABC.A series of threats directed toward Albanese were emailed to members of the “Shen Yun” dance troupe in February, according to a newspaper connected to the Falun Gong religious group, which runs the dance company.One email on Sunday claimed large amounts of explosives had been hidden around the Lodge, the prime minister’s residence in the national capital, the publication reported.The email asked performers of Shen Yun to cancel their upcoming Australian shows or risk explosives being detonated.Authorities refused to comment on the emails, only confirming they had attended an “alleged security incident” at the leader’s home on Tuesday and “nothing suspicious was located”.Albanese was evacuated from his home at 18:00 local time (07:00 GMT) and taken to another location for several hours, police said.One of the emails, which was written in Chinese, said large quantities of nitro-glycerine explosives have been placed around the Lodge, the name of the prime minister’s official residence in Canberra.In a social media post on Wednesday morning, Albanese thanked police and people who had sent in “kind messages”, accompanied by a photo of his cavoodle guarding the door.”Toto on alert but all good,” he said.Interrupted by protesters at an event on Wednesday, Albanese also repeated previous calls to lower the temperature of political debate in the country.”I think it’s just a reminder to take every opportunity to tell people turn the heat down, for goodness sake, we can’t take these things for granted.” — AgenciesSYDNEY — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese evacuated his official residence in Canberra for a few hours on Tuesday evening following a bomb scare connected to a Chinese dance and music group banned by Beijing, according to national broadcaster ABC.A series of threats directed toward Albanese were emailed to members of the “Shen Yun” dance troupe in February, according to a newspaper connected to the Falun Gong religious group, which runs the dance company.One email on Sunday claimed large amounts of explosives had been hidden around the Lodge, the prime minister’s residence in the national capital, the publication reported.The email asked performers of Shen Yun to cancel their upcoming Australian shows or risk explosives being detonated.Authorities refused to comment on the emails, only confirming they had attended an “alleged security incident” at the leader’s home on Tuesday and “nothing suspicious was located”.Albanese was evacuated from his home at 18:00 local time (07:00 GMT) and taken to another location for several hours, police said.One of the emails, which was written in Chinese, said large quantities of nitro-glycerine explosives have been placed around the Lodge, the name of the prime minister’s official residence in Canberra.In a social media post on Wednesday morning, Albanese thanked police and people who had sent in “kind messages”, accompanied by a photo of his cavoodle guarding the door.”Toto on alert but all good,” he said.Interrupted by protesters at an event on Wednesday, Albanese also repeated previous calls to lower the temperature of political debate in the country.”I think it’s just a reminder to take every opportunity to tell people turn the heat down, for goodness sake, we can’t take these things for granted.” — Agencies
Australian PM evacuated after bomb threat over Chinese group's dance tour
