False alarm: Explosives experts sent to Dutch parliament where evacuation is underway
Update 13:31 - The police's explosives experts investigated a suspicious package and found nothing dangerous
The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, was partially evacuated on Thursday by order of the security. A suspicious package came into the mail room but contained nothing dangerous, the police said after investigation. According to PVV leader Geert Wilders, the package involved was a teddy bear addressed to him.
The Hague police said on Twitter that they were investigating a "suspicious situation" in a building on Prinses Irenepad. "The area is cordoned off, and the Explosives Safety team, among others, are investigating," the police said at 1:06 p.m. At 1:23 p.m., they gave the all-clear.
"Package with a teddy bear and wiring, addressed to me, delivered to the mail room of the Tweede Kamer," Wilders said on Twitter. "Fortunately, without an explosive and therefore not dangerous, but cozy is different."
The building security halted all meetings in the committee rooms around 12:25 p.m. They asked the parliamentarians and others present to leave the committee rooms through the front. The mail room is located at the back of the committee rooms, according to the newspaper.
A chairman of one of the committee rooms told ANP that there was a “calamity in an adjacent room.” Laurens Kok, the AD journalist at the scene, heard from a security guard that it involved the mail room.
About a dozen police officers are visible around the Tweede Kamer. The police cordoned off the rear of the property, as well as the building's underground parking lot.
Only part of the building was evacuated. Debates, briefings, and conversations are continuing in other committee rooms, according to ANP. The main public entrance is still open, the restaurant is still operating, and a school visit is happening.
