WASHINGTON: The US Capitol was briefly evacuated on Wednesday evening after authorities sounded a threat alarm over a harmless parachute stunt, prompting top lawmaker Nancy Pelosi to blast aviation officials for an "inexcusable" failure.
Police tasked with protecting the complex at the heart of US government in Washington issued an initial statement shortly after 2230 GMT saying they had ordered an evacuation as they were "tracking an aircraft that poses a probable threat."
They did not give further details. But it turned out the mini-crisis was triggered by a pre-planned flyover at nearby Nationals Stadium.
The news became a top headline within minutes in the United States, where the memories of September 11, 2001 attacks and the January 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol by protesters are still poignant.
US Capitol Police swiftly issued a second statement to say the order had been given "out of an abundance of caution," that there was now "no threat" to the complex and that buildings had reopened for use.
Neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate, the chambers of Congress that are located in the Capitol, were in session at the time of the scare.
But the incident enraged Speaker of the House Pelosi, who fired off a withering statement soon after the evacuation order was lifted blasting the Federal Aviation Administration over the apparent misunderstanding.
The FAA's "apparent failure" to notify Capitol police of the planned flyover was "outrageous and inexcusable," Pelosi said.
"The unnecessary panic caused by this apparent negligence was particularly harmful" for those still facing trauma from the January 6 attack on the Capitol, she said, adding that Congress would review "what precisely went wrong today and who at the Federal Aviation Administration will be held accountable for this outrageous and frightening mistake."
VERY STRESSFUL 15 MINUTES
Despite the scare being a false alarm, lawmakers and visitors were shaken by the warning.
"We just went through a very stressful 15 minutes, but we are thankful that everyone is safe," congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez said on Twitter.
CNN's congressional correspondent Ryan Nobles said he was among those evacuated, and that "for a good 15 minutes it was pretty frantic."
"The alarms were loud and intense and Capitol Police were not messing around getting people out," he tweeted.
Two young Swiss tourists visiting Washington said they were walking towards the historic white domed Capitol to take a tour when police waved them away from the structure.
"They shut the security barriers behind us. They didn't tell us why and I thought it was better not to ask," one of the tourists, who asked not to be named, said. -- AFP
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