A man was pulled from a parked car by three specialist police during a security incident outside the Victorian Parliament this afternoon.
Critical incident teams surrounded a parked station wagon on Spring Street about 3:00pm after reports a suspicious vehicle had stopped near the base of Parliament.
Firefighters were called after reports of a flammable substance inside a car.
Police cleared the area and eyewitnesses said that after about five minutes police dragged the man from the car through the front driver's side window.
He was taken to hospital in an ambulance shortly afterwards.
The road outside Parliament was cordoned off for about half an hour before one lane of traffic re-opened.
A heavy police presence remained at the scene.
Witness Nick Hurley said the police "stormed the car" before the arrest.
"It was quite a violent arrest. They broke the window, ripped the car door open and threw him on the ground," he said.
"And then when he was being taken to the [police car], he was sort of dragging his feet … trying to resist arrest."
Police said a 25-year-old Sunshine man was having a mental health episode and had been taken to hospital for assessment.
Acting Sergeant Brooke Willis said the incident was not terror related and there was no ongoing threat to the public.
A container of fuel was found inside the car but it had not been ignited.
The 25-year-old caused "no harm to himself or any-one else", Acting Sergeant Willis said.
