Paris museum reopened after Election Day alert

The courtyard outside the Louvre museum in Paris is reopened after a brief security scare prompted an evacuation of the site where French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron plans to celebrate election night.

Explosives experts have left the site after a suspicious bag prompted the evacuation of a few hundred people, primarily journalists preparing for Macron’s event. The museum itself was not evacuated or closed, and visitors continued entering and leaving.

Soldiers patrol in the courtyard of the Louvre museum in Paris, France Sunday, May 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

The Louvre already was being heavily guarded after an extremist attacker targeted soldiers near the museum during the presidential campaign. Paris police said the evacuation was a “precautionary measure.”

Some 50,000 security forces are guarding voting stations and other sites around France for Sunday’s runoff between Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

— AFP