Israeli Marseille consulate evacuated after bomb threat

Anonymous call to police says bomb located in van parked outside consulate in French city; sappers find fake device and call off alert.

By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFF
View of Marseilles from Notre Dame de la Gard 311 (photo credit: Melanie Lidman)
View of Marseilles from Notre Dame de la Gard 311
(photo credit: Melanie Lidman)
The Israeli Consulate in Marseille, France was temporarily evacuated on Tuesday after local police received an anonymous threat that their was a bomb near the building and sappers discovered a suspicious device in a van parked outside, AFP reported.
A bomb disposal squad who arrived on the scene found a fake bomb in the vehicle parked outside the consulate. The mock bomb consisted of a pressure cooker with wires protruding, marked with radiation warning stickers.
RELATED:
'Israeli diplomats return to Cairo after embassy attack'
Hundreds protest outside Israeli Embassy in Amman
The alert was called off after sappers determined the device was harmless, an hour-and-a-half after the affair began.
The bomb scare came at a time of renewed tensions over the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, with an annual United Nations meeting under way this week where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas plans to request full UN membership for a Palestinian state.
One of France's biggest cities, Marseille is a melting pot of immigration and suffers from high unemployment and crime rates.