New York: A suspicious vehicle with two gas canisters caused a brief scare near Union Square in New York forcing the police to clear several blocks but they gave the "all clear" after investigations, saying the vehicle had posed no danger.
"It's all clear," a New York Police Department spokesman said.
The car with two gasoline canisters in the back of the Oldsmobile Cutlass, a mid-sized car, was spotted by a Consolidated Edison employee around 10.15 pm (local time), who called the police to report about the suspicious vehicle.
Several streets and a building around Union Square, an important and historic intersection in New York City, were evacuated and dozens of police and firemen roped off several portions of the area with yellow police tape.
The incident comes just a fortnight after the failed Times Square car bombing, which the US has blamed on the Pakistani Taliban. Shahzad Faisal, a Pakistani who became a naturalised US citizen, was arrested for the failed plot.
A remote-controlled robot moved in on the car on Friday and popped its widows open, producing a large boom.
A bomb squad team member approached it while wearing a heavy green protective suit.
New York police left the scene after two hours following an explanation by the car's owner, who owns a landscaping business that provides lawn mowing and other services, on why he had kept the gas canisters in the car.
"We contacted the owner and he gave an explanation," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne was quoted as saying by local media.
Since the May 1 Times Square failed attempt, there have been several reports of suspicious vehicles and packages around the city that have turned out to be false alarms. Times Square has already been evacuated three times since May 1.
Browne said police evacuated the area as a precaution because the suspicious vehicle was parked in front of the headquarters of Con Edison, a major energy company.
Several floors of a high-rise residential building were evacuated and some streets in the area were blocked off as a precaution. But, they were reopened after police gave the 'all clear'.
Union Square, located on Downtown Manhattan's East Side, is a major pedestrian and tourist thoroughfare. New York University, Greenwich Village, and the landmark Flatiron building are nearby.
The incident also came hours after President Barack Obama had left the city after a brief visit during which he met with police officials to congratulate them on their counterterrorism efforts.
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