A man has been detained by
police after reportedly pouring petrol over himself outside parliament.
Tory MP Huw Merriman tweeted about the incident which happened outside the Old Carriage Gates, the same area where a PC was stabbed to death in a
terror attack in 2017.
He wrote: “Man next to me at Parliament’s carriage gates appears to have poured (what smells like) petrol on himself. Incredibly brave response from police, who are now helping him.”Man next to me at Parliament’s carriage gates appears to have poured (what smells like) petrol on himself. Incredibly brave response from police, who are now helping him.— Huw Merriman (@HuwMerriman) October 1, 2019Incident at #Parliament. Police have closed Carriage Gate and someone has been arrested. Rumor someone's thrown petrol, can smell it from the other side of the road, one person in red jacket being held by the police! pic.twitter.com/qsLE1wcv6M— LondonResisters (@ResistersLondon) October 1, 2019The Met Police later confirmed on
Twitter that a man had been detained under the Mental Health Act after dousing himself “with what appeared to be a flammable liquid”.
It added: “The man, who had a lighter, was sprayed with a
fire extinguisher. There was no ignition and the man was detained.
“No reports of any injuries.”A man was detained in #Parliament Square #Westminster at approx. 10:45hrs today after dousing himself with what appeared to be a flammable liquid. No injuries. LAS are on scene and he is currently being assessed. pic.twitter.com/of7KA05t0R— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) October 1, 2019This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Follow HuffPost
UK on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.