Slap on the wrist for woman who caused chaos in the name of art
The artist who brought West London to a standstill after her "works of art" sparked a major terrorist bomb alert has been let off with a Police caution.
Local mother of three, Monica Saieva, "planted" five packages complete with protruding nails at various sites claiming they were "an artistic statement about terrorism".
Hundreds of officers responded to the alert earlier this year fearing a repeat of July 7th bombings at an estimated cost of £100,000.
The 36 year old part-time assistant at Shepherd's Bush library was arrested after walking into a Hammersmith Police to explain her art.
Hundreds of residents were evacuated from their homes, three tube lines were shut and several roads were closed for hours, creating gridlock and disrupting the journeys thousands of commuters.
News of the caution prompted outrage from both local members of the public, MPs and survivors of the 7th July bombings. Local MP Greg Hands joined the angry chorus saying "I think she should be prosecuted. I can't see how that could've been a genuine human error. Nobody makes artworks out of nail bombs.She did this in an area that had one of the failed suicide bombs on July 21 last year. People are very sensitive about bombs in this part of London. I think she's got off very lightly and she's very lucky. She caused an enormous amount of disruption to Hammersmith and to thousands of commuters and others going about their everyday business. She must have known it what would happen when she did this, and I think she's been let off very lightly."
"We need to send out a message to the general public that making jokes about terrorism and causing needless disruption will not be tolerated." he added.
June 28, 2006