Brussels Man In ‘Bomb Alert’ was a student doing a radioactive study

• A large police operation in the Belgian capital which lasted all afternoon was a false alarm, officials say.
• Situation Muntplein cleared, suspect was student doing research on radioactivity inside Brussels, police said they feared explosives
• Police say they have the suspect under control
• Several hours after the stand-off began, police tweeted that the situation was “unchanged”.
• Police in Brussels say they have surrounded a man who was behaving suspiciously and wearing a heavy winter coat with protruding wires.

Brussels bomb alert was ‘false alarm’:

A large police operation in the Belgian capital which lasted all afternoon was a false alarm, officials say. The operation has ended and the man was apparently a student of nuclear radiation at university in Brussels.

Situation #Muntplein cleared, suspect was student doing research on radioactivity inside #Brussels, police said they feared explosives

— Roeland Roovers (@r0eland) July 20, 2016

There are reports coming in of a potential bomb threat in Brussels – Police are currently engaged in a standoff. The situation has been ongoing for several hours and Police are currently stating that the situation remains unchanged.

A man wearing a heavy winter coat with protruding wires was reported as acting suspicious, the BBC Reports:

Police in Brussels say they have surrounded a man who was behaving suspiciously and wearing a heavy winter coat with protruding wires.

A large police operation is underway near Place de la Monnaie in the centre of the Belgian capital.

Several hours after the stand-off began, police tweeted that the situation was “unchanged”.

The bomb squad is present. Shops nearby have been evacuated and several streets are closed.

Photos from the scene show a man kneeling with his hands up, while police point their guns at him.

We will keep you posted with any further details.