Oxford Circus incident - as it happened: Police say no evidence of gunshots or attack in central London
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Your support makes all the difference.A major police incident has come to a close after police found no evidence of gunshots or injuries.
After numerous reports suggested that there had been gunshots at Oxford Circus station, police said they were responding to the event as if it was a terror attack. But they found no evidence of any shots or attack, and apparently the many 999 calls were baseless.
The reports triggered panic on one of the world's busiest shopping streets, leading people to flee into restaurants and shops on the instruction of the police.
It came in the middle of Black Friday, when the street and station may have been even more busy than usual.
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The Met Police has issued a warning telling anyone in Oxford Street to take shelter in shops and that police are on the scene.
Bond Street station, the next along from Oxford Street, has now been closed, according to the British Transport Police.
An eyewitness at the scene, Ryan Butcher, described the panic as police told everyone around the Tube station to take cover."Everyone started running," he said in texts from the scene. "I saw smoke. People started falling over in the street"We've been moved to the basement of this restaurant i'm in. No one knows what's going on."Everyone is shaking and crying but no one has seen anything yet."It's just terrifying."Everyone started running as I was filming the armed police."I ran into a restaurnt because I saw everyone else running for shelter."Then it all went quiet for a bit means everyone else in the restaurant was wondering what was going on because i've come in hysterical."
Much of the information about the incident is still unconfirmed, and police have put the area into complete lockdown. But there are unconfirmed reports of loud bangs and shots.
The police has issued a statement confirming "reports of gunshots" and have responded "as if the incident is terrorist related".
Police were called at 16:38hrs on Friday, 24 November to a number of reports of shots fired on Oxford Street and underground at Oxford Circus tube station.
Police have responded as if the incident is terrorist related. Armed and unarmed officers are on scene and dealing along with colleagues from British Transport Police.
If you are on Oxford Street go into a building and stay inside until further direction.
Avoid travelling to the Oxford Street area.
At this stage police have not located any casualities.
Eyewitnesses on the scene say that they are being released from the shops and restaurants they had been told to shelter in. It isn't clear if the incident is over, but it appears to be contained enough that the street itself is now safe.
The London fire brigade says three fire engines and 15 firefighters are at Oxford Circus underground station
"At this stage, we have received one report of a woman sustaining a minor injury when leaving Oxford Circus station," the British Transport Police have reported. "There are no other reported casualties. More updates to follow."
BBC producer Helen Bushby, who was shopping in the area, said: "I was just walking down from the BBC towards the tube and there was a mass stampede away from the tube as fast as they could."They were crying, they were screaming, they were dropping their shopping bags. It was a very panicked scene."People said they heard a gunshot and panic was just spreading."Video posted to Twitter showed police shouting "get inside somewhere" as they escorted people away from Oxford Street.Footage also showed people calmly filing out of the tube station as an automated message urged passions to "leave the station immediately".Video posted to Twitter later showed people walking away from the station.Greg Owen, 37, from London, said: "I was next to the tube station and everyone started screaming and shouting and then a flood of people came up the stairs."And a witness who only wanted to be known as Emma said: "There were shots fired on Oxford Street and then armed police ran into me and my friend."Armed Police were running up Argyll Street and now we're locked in French Connection."One woman named Maaiysa, a journalist for TRT, tweeted that she heard "gunshots" as well as screams and sirens from her office near Oxford Circus, and posted video of people running away from the station."Never seen such panic. People flooded into our offices, looking for shelter, shaking," she wrote.Pop singer Olly Murs was among those caught up in the incident in a department store on Oxford Street.In a series of tweets from his ollyoffical account, the former X Factor contestant wrote: "F*** everyone get out of Selfridges now gun shots!! I'm inside"Really not sure what's happened! I'm in the back office... but people screaming and running towards exits!"Evacuating store now!!! F*** heart is pounding"
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