Swedish university closed after 'massacre' threat

January 25, 2016 | 09:42

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The University of Orebro in central Sweden said it would close on Monday after an anonymous threat raised fears of a planned massacre.

Armed police officers stand guard in Stockholm on Nov 21, 2015. (AFP/Janerik Henriksson)

STOCKHOLM: The University of Orebro in central Sweden said it would close on Monday after an anonymous threat raised fears of a planned massacre.

"A threat directed against Orebro University has been made on the app Jodel," the university said on Sunday (Jan 24) on its website.

"We cannot jeopardise the safety of our students, staff and visitors. Therefore we have decided, in consultation with the police, to close the university on Monday, 25 January."

Jodel is a German-made application for mobile phones that enables students on the same campus to contact each other anonymously and is popular among Swedish universities.

According to the Swedish news agency TT, a message disseminated on Jodel on Saturday told students not to go to classes on Monday "if (they) want to survive."

The university has lodged a complaint and police have stepped up their presence in the campus area, the agency said. The university has 17,000 students and 1,200 employees.

On Oct 12, the University of Lund in southern Sweden received a similar threat and closed for a day.

That text was similar to a message released before shootings at Umpqua Community College in the United States on Oct 1, when a 26-year-old man killed nine people before committing suicide, local media reported at the time.

An investigation found that there was no danger, and the university, the second largest in Sweden, swiftly reopened.

AFP

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