Bomb alert at Cannes festival? Police issue update on suspicious package found on site

A brief moment of drama broke out on a rain-drenched day at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday as police investigated a suspicious package found on site.

Some of those attending the festival took to Twitter to share what was happening. A tweep that goes by the handle @Sal_Franco wrote in Spanish: "Bomb alert at the Cannes Film Festival. Although we have not been evicted from the Palais, the police have closed the main entrances while they check the surroundings of the building."

The package turned out to be a "bag forgotten by a tourist", said police official Philippe Loos, after the authorities cordoned off a wide area around the main screening venue of the world's leading film festival.

Around a thousand police and security guards are in place for the festival which has been held under a heightened security alert ever since a wave of terror attacks in France in the 2010s.

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