Greece: Truck on parliament sidewalk checked for explosives

Police in Greece Monday halted traffic outside parliament in central Athens after a man drove a pickup truck drove onto a sidewalk in front of the building and reportedly threatened police.

Bomb disposal officers checked the vehicle and one cooking gas canister was removed. State-run ERT television reported that the driver had been detained by police.

Lettering in Greek visible on the side of the vehicle read “The Turks govern Greece. Proof inside.”

Following the inspection, the vehicle was towed away and the road reopened.

Greece and Turkey have seen a spike in tension in recent weeks amid an ongoing dispute over sea boundaries and related oil-and-gas drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean.