Man in camouflagegear held at parliament

Brussels police detained a Slovakian man dressed in camouflage gear near the European Parliament and found a gun and a chainsaw in his car, triggering a security scare which caused several offices to be evacuated.

The man told police officers that he wanted to meet the European president, prosecutors said.

Belgian police evacuated hundreds of people 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 1pm local 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 in the 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 January 7-9 Paris terror attacks and a series of police raids on suspected foreign fighters in Belgium and France last month.