Police had cordoned off an area in the central London political district of Whitehall near the Parliament to access a suspicious package. According to the latest update, they have removed the package and made it safe.
Police have removed a suspicious package from #Whitehall.
— MPS Westminster (@MPSWestminster) October 18, 2019
Specialist officers attended and made the package safe after they were informed at 15:01hrs.
The cordon has now been lifted.
Enquiries continue.
The public are thanked for their patience.
Around 4 p.m. this day, police were called over reports of a man trying to scale Big Ben, MPS Westminster tweeted. The man turned out to be a 43-year-old Extinction Rebellion protester apparently dressed up like PM Boris Johnson, as he was wearing a blond wig.
BREAKING | Extinction Rebellion say the man scaling Big Ben is 43-year-old tree surgeon Ben Atkinson.
— Gareth Davies (@GD10) October 18, 2019
He plans to drop an Extinction Rebellion banner to “highlight Government inaction on the Climate and Ecological Emergency”. pic.twitter.com/q836DRn1Hv
