Police identify persons of interest but no threat as Parliament Hill probe continues

Ottawa Police said they identified two persons of interest but no public safety concerns as they continued to investigate an incident that briefly led to the evacuation of Parliament Hill.

Police said in a news release that they received information Saturday about a potential threat near the parliamentary precinct, prompting them to close some surrounding streets to vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

They have not disclosed the nature of the threat.

The Parliamentary Protective Service also ordered an evacuation of Parliament Hill, issuing an alert to all Parliamentarians and staff and noting all buildings in the precinct were to be under shelter-in-place orders until further notice.

Later in the afternoon, police tweeted the area was open again to the public.

The force said in the release it had not identified a public safety threat stemming from the incident, but said it identified two people and two vehicles of interest, and that they were still investigating.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2022.