Kensington Gardens, a park in central London, was closed off by the police on Friday after a video was shared online by a group claiming to have targeted the nearby Israeli Embassy with drones carrying dangerous substances.
The Metropolitan Police, the force that covers London, said in a statement that officers were “assessing a number of discarded items” discovered in the park, a 265-acre public space that is flanked by Kensington Palace on one side and by an avenue lined with embassies on another.
The police said that the Israeli Embassy had not been attacked and that officers did not believe there was “any increased public safety risk at this stage.”
“As a precaution, some of the officers who have been deployed are wearing protective clothing,” the police statement added, noting that the counterterrorism unit was aware of the video with the group’s claim that it had targeted the embassy.
Inquiries were underway “to determine the authenticity of the video and to identify any potential link between it and the items discarded,” the police statement said.
On Friday, cordons were in place in Kensington Gardens near the embassy. Some officers wearing white protective suits were visible in footage shown by Sky News, as were several police vans.
Oren Marmorstein, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told The New York Times that checks were being carried out after a “security incident” at a park near the Israeli Embassy. All embassy staff were safe, and no embassy premises came under attack, he added.
Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting from Tel Aviv.
Stephen Castle is a London correspondent of The Times, writing widely about Britain, its politics and the country’s relationship with Europe.
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