Security alert at Whitehall
The area around Whitehall was evacuated this lunchtime for approximately half an hour following the discovery of a “suspicious package”.
A double-decker bus is thought to have been at the centre of the low-level security alert, issued by the Metropolitan police shortly before 12:00 BST.
All pedestrians and traffic passing through Parliament Square were redirected from the area, although the scare was not deemed hazardous enough to necessitate the evacuation of people from nearby buildings.
Roads were opened and barriers taken down at approximately 12:30 BST after police gave the all-clear. The scare is the latest such incident since Thursday’s terrorist attacks in the capital.
A false bomb alert in Birmingham over the weekend resulted in about 30,000 people being evacuated from the city centre.
