US police hastily cleared the lobby of Trump Tower to investigate an unattended backpack, only to find that the bag contained children's toys.
Video taken by a bystander on Tuesday and posted on Twitter showed people running through the lobby for the exits.
New York Police Department spokesman Stephen Davis said the backpack was found near the entrance to a Niketown store in the building. The bomb squad checked out the package and gave an "all clear" just after 5pm local time.
President-elect Donald Trump lives in the tower and has his offices there, though he was at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida at the time.
"We were evacuated very quickly. It was hysteria," said Andy Martin, a 16-year-old from the New York City suburb of Huntington who was in Manhattan with family. "Police were shouting and telling people to leave."
