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Parliament bomb alert: Drinks bottle and mobile phone posed no threat, say police Parliament bomb alert: Suspicious device found near visitors entrance
(34 minutes later)
A security alert at the Westminster parliament building has been called off, after police concluded that a drinks bottle and a mobile phone had not been fashioned into a dangerous device. A section of the Houses of Parliament was evacuated on Thursday, after a suspicious device was found near a visitors’ entrance.
Specialist officers wearing rubber gloves were called to the scene on Thursday. Upon inspection, they found that the phone was not wired to the bottle, and police said it posed no danger, the Telegraph reported. The busy roads outside the Palace of Westminster in central London, near the residence of Prime Minister David Cameron at 10, Downing Street, were cordoned off during the security alert.
"It has been stood down," a police spokeswoman said of the alert. The police also closed off part of New Palace Yard near the Big Ben clock tower inside the estate, the Telegraph reported.
The objects were found at an X-ray machine near an entrance to Parliament's visitors centre – which is close to the residence of Prime Minister David Cameron’s at 10, Downing Street. During the incident, officers told MPs and others close to the evacuated area to stop using their mobile phones “for [their] own safety,” the newspaper reported.
Traffic was briefly stopped outside the front of the Palace of Westminster, and a part of New Palace Yard near the Big Ben clock tower inside the estate was closed off. The alert was triggered after an X-ray machine operator at the visitors’ entrance appeared to show a mobile phone wired to a drinks bottle. 
During the alert, MPs and other people close by were warned to stop using their mobile phones “for [their] own safety,” the newspaper reported. The alert been since been called off after specialist officers were called to the scene, and found that the phone was not attached to the bottle and posed no danger.
“It has been stood down,” a police spokeswoman said of the alert.