LOS ANGELES, July 9 (Xinhuanet) -- A suspicious package found near a Greyhound bus station in Hollywood prompted an evacuation Saturday night and was the second suspicious item discovered near a local public transit facility within 10 hours, police here said.

    In the wake of the London terrorist bombings at three subway stations and on a double-decker bus, public transit facilities in this US city are under a heightened terrorist alert, and residentswere asked to report anything suspicious.

    Someone called police at some 8:15 p.m. and reported seeing an unattended green plastic box with duct tape wrapped around it nearor inside the bus station just north of Hollywood Boulevard, said a spokeswoman of the LAPD's Hollywood station.

    The bus station and businesses along a block of nearby Hollywood Boulevard were evacuated, she said.

    A bomb squad was notified, she said.

    It was the second suspicious package to be found at a mass transit facility Saturday.

    Earlier a cooler with wires sticking out of it similar to those used in blasting fuses was found in the afternoon by a police officer on patrol at the Metro Red Line station in Hollywood, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. John Baylis.

    Police officers, firefighters and a bomb squad were called, while two subway stations were evacuated and nearby streets closed.

    However, a bomb squad X-rayed the cooler and determined it was empty, the police officer said, adding that stations and streets were reopened about 3:30 p.m.

    Following the London bombings, local authorities expected some false alarms in this second biggest city in the United States, police said.

    It wasn't known who placed either of the packages in the subwaytunnel or at the bus station in Hollywood, as police were investigating the incidents. Enditem