German police late on November 14 cleared the area around the Russian Embassy in Berlin for hours after finding a suspicious object in a car parked near the embassy on Berlin's famed Unter den Linden street.
A police spokesperson said only the area around the embassy was blocked off and that one person, the owner of the car with the suspicious item, was detained.
Bomb-disposal teams went to the scene to investigate the item. The Russian news agency TASS, citing a policeman at the site, reported early on November 15 that investigators had found no threat and left the scene.
Unter den Linden stretches from one of the city's main squares -- Alexander Square -- to the Brandenburg Gate. The street is lined by embassies, hotels, museums, and performance halls.
The car owner was detained earlier in the day, but police did not say why. The car was discovered while police were investigating him.
TASS quoted the Russian Embassy press service as saying that a foreign national, presumably from Poland, parked a car with a Polish license plate by the embassy building.
"After leaving the car, he tried to enter the diplomatic mission with a request to grant him protection. Policemen detained him. There is a suspicion that he might be mentally ill," TASS quoted the embassy's press service as saying.
