The attempted attack on the Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, in Belfast was a hoax, possibly carried out by the loyalist paramilitary group, the UVF, the police have said. It halted a peace and reconciliation event in north Belfast, forcing Coveney to leave the stage and interrupting a funeral in a church in the same grounds as the venue. Mark McEwan, PSNI assistant chief constable, condemned the “disgraceful actions” of those who caused major disruptions at the event attended by dignitaries, guests and media. “At this early stage of the investigation out assessment is that these crimes were carried out by loyalist paramilitary groups. We are keeping an open mind, but one of the primary lines of investigation as the UVF,” he told reporters on Friday evening. The attack took place between 9am and 10am when a van was hijacked in Sydney Street West off the Shankill Road, Belfast, he said. “The van driver was threatened by two gunmen and forced to drive his white Vauxhall van a short distance to another street and a device was then placed in the van.” The victim was then forced to drive the van to Holy Cross chapel, near to where the minister was speaking. A controlled explosion took place at lunchtime but McEwan confirmed the device in the van had been declared a hoax. The SDLP MP Claire Hanna, who was at the event, said people were told a hijacked van, potentially with a suspicious device on board, had been found in the area, raising concerns that loyalist paramilitaries could have been involved. “The irony is lost on nobody that this was an event about reconciliation, about common ground with a genuinely diverse audience of people,” she said. The driver of the vehicle was in tears inside the venue after alerting security officials. Coveney tweeted that he was “saddened & frustrated that someone has been attacked & victimised in this way and my thoughts are with him & his family”. The incident comes days after the UK’s Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, lowered the terrorism threat in the country from “severe” to “substantial” for the first time in 12 years. Lewis tweeted: “I am aware of reports of an ongoing security alert in Belfast. I am being kept up to date and I am in regular contact with the PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland]. Solidarity with Simon Coveney and all those impacted.” Coveney was speaking at the event organised by the John & Pat Hume Foundation when he abruptly ended his speech and was ushered from the room. The minister told the audience he had to leave and hoped to be back in a few minutes, but the centre was evacuated Coveney had been on the podium for five minutes and just as he finished a sentence about “John and Pat’s vision of an unshakeable commitment to principled and peaceful change” his security guard took to the stage to alert him. “I’m afraid I have to leave. I hope I will be back in a few minutes. I hope you understand that,” he said. Tim Attwood, the foundation’s secretary, said the event was the organisation’s first in-person conference since the end of Covid restrictions.