Brussels - The Belgian federal parliament was evacuated for three hours because of a bomb alert, journalists and lawmakers reported on social media on Wednesday.
According to La Libre Belgique newspaper, police received an anonymous telephone call at 7.47am claiming the presence of an explosive device at the parliament building in central Brussels.
About 50 people were in the building at the time and were evacuated to a public park. The paper reported that a neighbouring building housing the Wallonia-Brussels regional assembly was also evacuated as a precaution.
Green party lawmaker Jean-Marc Nollet posted photos of the scenes on Twitter.
Laurent Henrard, a journalist for Belgian public broadcaster RTBF, reported that police were searching the building with sniffer dogs.
Local television channel TeleBruxelles reported that the search concluded shortly before 11.00am and staff were able to return to work.
Belgium remains on the second highest terror alert level after the Thalys train shooting in northern France in August.
About 200 troops are deployed on the streets and outside sensitive buildings, including embassies.
AFP