BRUSSELS – A suspect vehicle parked opposite the US embassy prompted a security alert and caused commuter chaos in Brussels on Friday morning.

The vehicle, a Mercedes, was spotted shortly before the morning rush hour at 7.30am, leading the police to block a major arterial road while bomb disposal experts carried out an inspection.

One of Brussels main metro stations, Arts-Loi, was also closed as commuters tried to make their way to work.

A search of the car, conducted by a robot, failed to find anything.

“We followed the police instructions to stay indoors while they inspected the vehicle, which was parked on the other side of the street. We were not evacuated,” a US official told the AFP news agency.

“We have no reason to think that the suspicious car was directed at us,” he said.

The police were able to lift the road barriers by 10.15am but by then the precautionary measures had already caused major traffic jams.

The traffic on the busy inner ring had been stopped in both directions and major tailbacks stretched from Arts-Loi to the Cinquantenaire park.

[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Belgian news