PARIS – The Catholic shrine at Lourdes reopened yesterday evening after a bomb alert caused French police to evacuate the site.
About 30,000 pilgrims had gathered at the shrine yesterday on one of the busiest days of the year.
The shrine was reopened for a 5pmprocession on the day Catholics mark the Assumption of the Virgin Mary while bomb disposal experts made final checks, a spokesman for the shrine said.
He could not say whether police had found anything.
“The doors are reopening . . . A lovely day of celebration has descended into a day of confusion,” he said.
Police earlier had evacuated the shrine after receiving an anonymous tip-off that four bombs would explode on the site at 3pm.
Although the specified time passed without any explosion, police said it was premature to say whether the warning was a hoax call or a real threat.
The pilgrims attending Assumption Day services were led to safety in an orderly manner, according to the Lourdes spokesman.
The tip-off, which came at around 11.30am, will be investigated after sniffer dogs and disposal experts have finished their job, police said.
The Lourdes shrine in southwestern France is where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to the young Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.
The town receives up to five million pilgrims to the shrine each year.
Since that sighting, 67 confirmed “miracle” healings have taken place at Lourdes, according to the shrine’s website. – (Reuters)