Siege over Melbourne, Southbank. A distressed woman leaves the area. Picture: Nicole Garmston Source: News Corp Australia
A DRAMATIC siege in a Melbourne restaurant has ended with a traumatised woman freed after being detained for more than seven hours and a man arrested and tasered by police.
Police ended a tense night of negotiations with the former restaurant employee who barricaded himself inside the Southbank restaurant when he agreed to free the 27-year-old Melbourne woman around 5.25am.
Police were called to the Ludlow restaurant around 10pm when a man, armed with a knife, had entered the restaurant taking an employee hostage. Police said the man, 35, was armed with a knife and was known to police.
It is believed the ex-employee had left the restaurant in the last week and was disgruntled about some employment issues.
When the man agreed to release his former colleague after more than seven hours, during which the surrounding area had been locked down and hundreds of people evacuated, police “had to taken action”.
“The male was tasered and as a precaution he was taken off to hospital,” Acting Inspector Travis McCarthy said.
The woman was said to be “very upset”.
“It was obviously a fairly traumatic experience for her,” Insp McCarthy said.
Police on scene at the southbank siege. Picture: Brendan Francis Source: News Corp Australia
Police and paramedics have wheeled out the hostage-taker on a stretcher with oxygen support but sitting upright and conscious after armed tactical police from special operations group could be seen entering the building with paramedics on scene.
Authorities were called to Riverside Quay about 10pm after reports a man had begun making threats at the riverside premises.
The man barricaded himself in a part of the restaurant with a woman.
Police earlier extended the exclusion zone around the siege, pushing people off the public square near the site.
Police on scene at Southbank. picture: Brendan Francis Source: News Corp Australia
Two angle grinders were also carried by police into the cordoned-off area.
It is believed the woman’s boyfriend and workers from the restaurant were waiting at the scene.
Nearby Riverside Quay was closed to traffic and pedestrians between Cook St and Southgate Ave.
The incident is not believed to be ideologically motivated.
The Southbank promenade between the ‘love lock’ bridge and the Ludlow restaurant remains blocked.
Witnesses said they saw police storm the area with shields about 10.40pm.
Paramedics with a stretcher remained on standby at the scene as a crowd of concerned passers-by watched on.
Police on scene at the southbank siege. Picture: Brendan Francis Source: News Corp Australia
A group of people believed to know those inside the restaurant watched on.
Police, both uniformed and in plain clothes, huddled near an entrance to a Riverside Quay building.
Cristina Grimaldi, who lives five minutes walk from the promenade, described the scene as like “a movie”.
“We were walking home and we saw the cops and we wondered what happened.
“It is the first time we have seen so many police.”
Police at the scene are diverting people away from the area saying a crime is currently being committed.
source: news.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 