Bomb Discovery Brings London's Piccadilly Circus to a Standstill

LONDON, June 29, 2007 — -- This morning, the Haymarket area, usually bustling with activity, came to a complete standstill. Right in the heart of London, roads were cordoned off, causing major disruptions in the area.

Haymarket is a prime location for tourists. A major shopping area, it is also known as London's theater district. Close to Piccadilly Circus, Haymarket is a high-profile neighborhood packed not only with theaters but with restaurants and pubs.

Just down the road, Downing Street, Buckingham Palace and the House of Commons are all within minutes of Haymarket.

Talking to the BBC, eyewitnesses on their way to work described the scene. ''Pretty surreal, really quite scary, I suppose, but I am glad it has been found, obviously. I don't know many of the details, but it is a scary situation.''

Many who work in the area have been told not to come in today. For one woman, the warning came too late -- she was already at the scene. ''I work at Tiger Tiger. It's a bar. And I came up this morning, and there was no alert on my tube line to say I couldn't get out of Piccadilly Circus. … Had I known that, if my local station would have told me, I wouldn't have come up.''

The device was found close to her workplace, she said. ''Yes, it's really scary actually. It is really scary," she said.

But on the streets of London, there was little panic from the public.

ABC's Mike Lee spoke to Matthew Jamison Evans, who was in the area. Jamison Evans said that the last time there was a bomb, he was working in a hospital.

''We have to protect our civil liberties, and strike the right balance and not lose all sense of respect, and we will get on with our daily lives," Jamison Evans told ABC News. "In London when the bombs went off last time there was a strong sense of community, and it got us through that, and I certainly hope we don't have any return to that now. But we will see what happens.''

Chloe Critchley, who was close to where the bomb was defused, said, "It's 'horrible, isn't it? It's really shocking. It brings home to me the fact that we've made ourselves a lot of enemies out there.''

Right now, police are concentrating on keeping people away from the Haymarket area, which remains closed until further notice.