Birmingham city centre stand-off comes to an end as man is arrested
Oct 1 2010 By Matt Lloyd
The seige of Paradise Circus came to a dramatic end last night when police overpowered the man who had threatened to leap from a bridge during a 28-hour stand-off that brought parts of Birmingham to a standstill.
The stand-off, which began when he climbed over bridge railings at around 4pm on Wednesday, ended when tiredness finally set in and officers seized the opportunity to make an arrest at around 8pm.
The man, believed to be homeless and from Latvia, was detained after drawn out negotiating tactics, which have been defended by police.
Throughout the night the team of four negotiators - three men and a woman - came within touching distance of the man and supplied him with food, coffee, cigarettes and a jacket to keep him warm.
At one point earlier in the afternoon they had even managed to coax him down to the steps in Chamberlain Square, but he wriggled away and jumped back over the railings.
As darkness fell the tiredness appeared to set in, he started to shiver and and he let out anguished screams with his fists clenched as he tried to stay awake.
The negotiators seized their chance when they stood up one by one, surrounding him, before grappling with him for 30 seconds whilst calling for help from officers waiting inside Paradise Forum.
Before the man was overpowered, Chief Insp Sean Russell said there was no limit on the time police negotiators would take as they tried to talk him out of jumping 30ft from a bridge above Paradise Circus.
The man at the centre of the drama was said to be a homeless Big Issue seller aged in his late 20s or early 30s.
Onlookers said the man was from Latvia asked for a passport to return to his homeland after the death of his parents.
They also said he was well known in the area and one said he was banned from the Paradise Circus shopping complex and the library.
A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said: “Before the safe conclusion of the stand-off, police officers had pleaded for patience as they defended their softly-softly approach to the man who brought Birmingham city centre to a standstill."
At a cordon set up to keep bystanders away, some onlookers chanted at the man to jump.
Most seemed angry and frustrated with the disruption and an argument even broke out at a cordon inside Paradise Forum when an office worker defended the man from other angry onlookers.
