The Zagreb Arena shopping centre was evacuated on Friday after an anonymous bomb threat, but no explosive devices have been found so far, according to Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic.

Half of the premises have been searched so far, Tomasevic said, adding he hoped no explosives would be found.

The centre received an anonymous email saying that two bombs had been planted on the premises, according to the head of Arena’s marketing department, Sanja Vladovic.

She estimated that about 2,000 people had been at the centre when the email arrived.

“If the bomb threat is a hoax, I expect the police to find the perpetrator and punish them most severely for alarming the people of Zagreb,” Tomasevic said, adding that the people were already on edge after the city had been struck by two earthquakes at the height of the COVID pandemic and the crash of a military drone in March this year on a residential neighbourhood in southwest of the city.

Asked if Zagreb was a safe city, the mayor said that it was, in relation to most European cities, but added that bomb threats for big shopping centres were unusual.