Economics minister criticises evacuation of parliament

The arrest of a man found to be covered in traces of explosives last Tuesday prompted the evacuation of the Federal Palace in Bern and other buildings in the vicinity. Keystone

Guy Parmelin says the evacuation last Tuesday of the Federal Palace raised a number of questions, including whether current protection measures for parliamentarians and ministers are adequate.

Parmelin was attending a senate committee meeting when the arrest of a suspicious-looking man outside parliament in the centre of Bern sparked a security alert that shut down the immediate area for several hours.

“There was no panic,” the economics minister told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaperExternal link. “But what bothered me personally was that we had to leave the parliament building through revolving doors. That can be dangerous.”

Parmelin was also critical of the lack of information that followed.

“We waited a good 20 minutes at the Bellevue Hotel without receiving any further instructions,” he said. The event raised a number of questions, he added: were protection measures at the parliament building sufficiently guaranteed? Were there enough bodyguards?

“The parliamentary services will certainly have to look with Fedpol [the Federal Office of Police] at how these evacuations should happen in the future.”

The evacuation had already been criticised by a number of parliamentarians. The building’s head of security, Andreas Wortmann, has admitted forgetting to evacuate the president of the senate, Brigitte Häberli-Koller, who continued working in her office. He also acknowledged there had been a lack of information after people were moved outside.

The Federal Chancellery has said it considered the evacuation had been carried out in accordance with the rules. The parliamentary services, however, will be evaluating the incident and recommending any necessary improvements.