BRUSSELS – Belgian police evacuated hundreds of people Monday from the European Parliament after a suspicious vehicle was spotted nearby.
The assembly said in a statement that four European Parliament administrative buildings and a visitors’ centre in central Brussels were evacuated as a precautionary measure.
Parliament spokesman Jaume Duch Guillot said about 500 people were evacuated.
Police gave the all-clear just before 1 p.m. Brussels time and staff returned to their offices.
Brussels’ public prosecutor is investigating.
Police were alerted to the car after they detained someone behaving suspiciously near the city’s parliament early Monday morning. Belgian media showed a photograph of a police robot moving toward a vehicle in a nearby street.
Belgium has been on high alert since the Jan. 7-9 Paris terror attacks and a series of police raids on suspected foreign fighters in Belgium and France last month.
Comments