Ok, so on Dec 29 I spent about 5h in the "place to be" in Lodz, the new mall going by the name of "Galeria Lodzka" and its almost immediately neighboring movie theatre complex. Not because I'm crazy about shopping or I love malls, but we were bored and there was nothing else to do. Do not go see "Wimbledon" out of boredom either, it stinks. Anyhow, on the following afternoon I'm in a car heading for the opposite side of town as we encountered a giant traffic jam. It turns out a couple of the main arteries in the center of town were blocked by the cops, the whole thing stalled traffic for hours. I heard through word of mouth that it was due to a bomb threat in the abovementioned mall, apparently they had evacuated the place and shut down the immediate neighborhood.

Uhm, guess again. Indeed the streets were blocked but the mall was never evacuated. There was a sizeable police force inside but there was no word of any threat and as much as it was impossible to cross any of the main streets, it was entirely possible to enter the mall and stay there. No word of evacuation, no blocking the exits for people trying to enter, nothing. The cops even shut down the parking lots so the people inside the mall trying to get home had to idle.

As it turned out, the bomb threat was phony, someone inadvertently or perhaps maliciously mistook some pipe for a bomb. The cops even called in a bomb squad for the occasion. It seems the whole caramba lasted a few good hours, from 3pm when the prank was called in, well into the evening at 9 or so. In the meantime, no official announcements were made, no information to the public and the people were largely going on speculation. Even now, a week later, it's still very sketchy and the only story I found on it is but a short paragraph.

http://miasta.gazeta.pl/lodz/1,35153,2471488.html?v=0&f=63