An abandoned lighter triggered a bomb alert and the evacuation of the Nivelles Courthouse on Monday afternoon, the Brabant Wallon public prosecutor’s office reported.
The courthouse, located in Nivelles city centre, was evacuated at around 3:30pm after the bomb threat interrupted various hearings that were in progress, notably in the Council Chamber.
A large police force was deployed, and a security perimeter was set up in downtown Nivelles. Some thirty officers from the Nivelles/Genappe, Braine-l’Alleud and Waterloo police zones were mobilised, along with their colleagues from the federal police.
A team from national bomb displosal unit, Sedee, was also called in.
Everything returned to normal shortly after 4.30pm on Monday.
“The origin of the incident was a lighter abandoned on a window sill outside the palace,” a spokeswoman for the Walloon Brabant public prosecutor’s office told Belga. It was a grenade-shaped lighter that a passer-by spotted before raising the alarm.
