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September 12, 2024 – 21:48
Washington, Sep 12 (EFE).- A bomb threat on Thursday prompted the evacuation of Springfield City Hall in Ohio, the city where former President Donald Trump accused immigrants living there of eating dogs and cats during the last presidential debate.
The city said in a statement that the bomb threat was against multiple facilities throughout Springfield and that several offices, including City Hall, had been evacuated and a police operation was launched.
The threat was sent by email on Thursday morning “to several agencies and media outlets.”
“Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of our employees and residents. We are working to address this situation as quickly as possible,” the city said in a statement posted on its social media.
Authorities asked the community to avoid the area around City Hall while the investigation is underway and asked the public to help report any suspicious activity.
Located in southwestern Ohio and with some 60,000 inhabitants, Springfield has seen the arrival of some 10,000 Haitians in recent years who have settled there in search of work.
“A lot of cities don’t want to talk about it because they’re embarrassed. In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs of the people who came here, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people who live there and this is what’s happening in our country and it’s a disgrace,” said former President Trump last Tuesday in the debate with his opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris.
Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck responded in a recorded statement Wednesday that it was “disappointing” that the narrative about the city had been “skewed by misinformation circulating on social media” and denied the Republican’s claims.
Vice presidential candidate JD Vance, however, stood by his assertion and dismissed complaints from Heck and the city’s police chief, who denied having received any complaints.
The unconfirmed rumor is believed to have been circulating on social media after the arrest of African-American Allexis Telia Ferrell, a 27-year-old American citizen arrested for killing and trying to eat a cat last month in Canton, a city in Ohio located about two hours northeast of Springfield.
Springfield officials have not linked today’s threats to what Trump said during the debate, but they have not ruled out the possibility that they are unrelated.
Following Trump’s remarks, pro-immigrant activists have warned that his rhetoric could trigger racist attacks against newcomers, especially the Haitian community.
The Haitian Bridge Alliance condemned the former president’s remarks in a statement, calling them “baseless and inflammatory.”
“This rhetoric not only perpetuates harmful stereotypes, but also contributes to the dangerous stigmatization of immigrant communities, particularly black immigrants from the Republic of Haiti,” they warned in a statement. EFE
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