00:00It seems quiet now, but last night a bomb scare forced Rochester High Street to grind
00:05to a halt.
00:06Where I'm stood now just yesterday was cordoned off by police, but now the streets look back
00:12to normal.
00:13Around half past five last night, police cordoned off a section of Rochester High Street from
00:18Fish at 55 to the Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel as a so-called suspicious package was
00:24found and posed a threat.
00:26The Ministry of Defence deployed a bomb disposal team.
00:30Businesses, many of them busy restaurants and pubs in the middle of serving patrons, were
00:34forced to evacuate and close.
00:37When it all started, it was around eight, no not eight o'clock, it was around six o'clock.
00:43The police started going around, I had received the message that people were evacuating the
00:46local area.
00:47I was very concerned, I didn't know what was going on, so I asked the police officer, he
00:52didn't give me too much information.
00:55And then I asked another one, and he mentioned that they received a strange device, a picture
01:00of a strange device or something along those lines.
01:03I was a bit concerned, rightfully so.
01:05Everyone was confused on the high street, we didn't really know what was going on.
01:09Surrounding flats were also evacuated and many were left confused.
01:13It has since been confirmed that an e-bike battery was responsible for the panic.
01:18At around 8.15pm, the item no longer posed a threat to the public and police tape was removed.
01:24Many businesses still remained shut for the rest of the night, losing valuable customers.
01:28Get Ready Comics has already been a victim of an arson attack just last month.
01:32The bomb scare poses another challenge for customer traction.
01:36It is worrying.
01:39Levels of crime seem to be going up.
01:41We notice little things as well.
01:43There's more graffiti, there's more littering, there's more antisocial behaviour.
01:47So it's one of those things that is a concern.
01:51For me as a local resident as well, it is worrying because you're like, really?
01:56But, you know, it's like it everywhere isn't it?
02:00We contacted Kemp Police for a statement.
02:03They informed us that...
02:05Kemp Police was called at 5.23pm on Monday 29th September to report of a suspicious item
02:11at a residential property near Corporation Street on Rochester.
02:15That item was found not to pose a risk to the general public and the cordon was removed
02:19at around 8.15pm.
02:22With the Ministry of Defence having confirmed that the culprit was an electric bike battery,
02:27it's a relief to say that nobody was harmed.
02:29Megan Shaw for KMTV in Rochester.
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