Armed police arrested a man at the scene of a siege in central London yesterday after reports that a suspect had taken several office workers hostage and threatened to blow himself up.
Police had surrounded an office block and evacuated hundreds of people from one of the capital’s busiest roads after a man began throwing office equipment out of a fifth-floor window. Witnesses said the man (48) had taken about four people hostage and had threatened to detonate gas canisters he was carrying.
Commander Mak Chishty of the Metropolitan Police said the suspect was a local man. He confirmed that no hostages were inside the building when the man left, after negotiators had been sent to the scene. A source said the incident was not terror-related and was thought to involve a man who had a grievance against a company.
Police sent a negotiator to the office block and imposed a 300m cordon around the building after the man entered it before lunchtime. One office worker said she had been inside the building when he arrived and threatened staff. “He turned up, strapped up with gasoline cylinders, and threatened to blow up the office,” Abby Baafi (27) said in a video clip posted on the Huffington Post website. – (Reuters, PA)