Head of security defends ‘disorderly but safe’ evacuation of parliament

Parliament square and several surrounding streets were sealed off on Tuesday evening Keystone

Forgetting about the president of the Senate was the biggest mistake of Tuesday’s evacuation of parliament, the building’s head of security has admitted. He insisted, however, that no one was ever in any danger.

Andreas Wortmann blames himself for leaving Brigitte Häberli-Koller working in her office, he said in an interviewExternal link with CH Media on Friday. Häberli-Koller was forgotten about in the hectic rush, he said.

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On Tuesday Swiss police arrested a man found with traces of explosives outside the federal parliament, sparking a security alert that shut down part of Bern for several hours. Parliament square and surrounding streets were sealed off, while nearby buildings including the Federal Palace were evacuated.

Unlike in other parts of the Federal Palace, there was no acoustic alarm in the parliamentary section. The security team wanted to avoid triggering a panic in full galleries, the lobby and the council chambers, Wortmann said. “For the future, we will re-examine this issue.”

He rejected the accusation that members of parliament had to wait too long outside the exit door in the south wing. “Our maxim was: we must evacuate the north side immediately.” If a bomb had gone off on parliament square, the members of parliament would have been safe, he said.

Understanding for criticism

On Tuesday Andrea Caroni, a member of the Senate, said he found himself in an “ideal situation for an attack” when he and other parliamentarians had to leave the building.

Wortmann said he understood the criticism, but he insisted that “at no time was there anyone inside the cordoned-off zone, except police officers”.

He agreed, however, that there had been a lack of information after people moved outside. Due to the “immediate” evacuation, it was not possible to organise someone to inform the members of parliament, he said. That said, the security concept actually provided for informing people, he admitted.

“It was a disorderly evacuation, but people were safe,” he concluded. He said it was still too early to learn concrete lessons, but it was clear that “there are many things that can be improved”.

Wortmann emphasised that the main thing was that he and his team evacuated people from the most dangerous areas within a few minutes.