Suspicious embassy package false alarm

Canada’s embassy in Paris was evacuated today after an employee opened a suspicious envelope and had a nosebleed, but French firefighters said the alert was a false alarm.

An embassy employee felt ill and had a nosebleed after opening an envelope that contained a piece of tissue soaked in liquid, raising the alert, said Florent Hivert, a fire department spokesman.

Initial tests found that the contents were not toxic, he said.

The embassy employee was taken to a hospital for treatment, and the piece of tissue was taken to a laboratory for further analysis, Mr Hivert said. He did not know whether the envelope had contained a message.

The embassy was expected to be able to reopen soon. The Avenue Montaigne where the embassy is located – a stretch of luxury boutiques in western Paris, near the Champs-Elysees – was temporarily closed off to traffic, and onlookers were kept at a distance behind a police line.