Published Wednesday, 11 July 2012
The scene outside the Belfast City Council offices on Wednesday morning. (© UTV)
The Cecil Ward Building on Linenhall Street was evacuated on Wednesday morning after a telephone bomb warning was received.
A police spokesman said: "A search of the building revealed nothing and it is believed this was a malicious call."
He added that all lines of inquiry are being investigated by police at present.
Alderman Jim Rodgers, of the Ulster Unionist Party, has condemned the alert.
"I think it's absolutely disgraceful that the people who were campaigning on behalf of the dog Lennox should act like this."
On Tuesday, Belfast City Council confirmed that it had contacted police after receiving threats from supporters of the campaign to save Lennox from destruction.
The animal was deemed to be a dangerous, pitbull-type breed at the end of a two-year legal battle between his owners and the council.
Lennox was put down on Wednesday morning, after a 28-day legal reprieve ended at midnight.
Cllr Rodgers said the members of Belfast City Council had been inundated with hundreds of emails by campaigners - but in the last few days some of the correspondence was of a threatening nature.
He said that, while he was an animal lover, the evidence received by the court regarding Lennox was very clear cut.
"This is a very dangerous dog," he said.
The unionist politician said that the threats,including those to the council's dog wardens, must be condemned by all right-thinking people.