A man who police say was driving erratically has been arrested and a major intersection closed off in Melbourne’s CBD.
Armed police shut down the Flinders and William streets intersection on Wednesday afternoon and asked people to avoid the area.
Police say a 26-year-old man was driving erratically along Flinders St at 1.50pm and stopped at the Flinders and Swanston St intersection, jumped on his bonnet and yelled for police, before doing a circle and driving down to the William St intersection, where police asked him to stop.
The man put on his hazard lights and dragged out of his car by police before being arrested, police say.
The bomb squad was brought in because police discovered a backpack in the man’s car, but there was no cause for concern, police said.
Police set up an exclusion zone in an area bounded by Market Street, Flinders Street, William Street and Flinders Lane, and extending to the banks of the Yarra, until just before 4pm.
Police examined a silver sedan at the intersection. Several office blocks in the area were locked down.
Trams and trains were halted because of the arrest, although train services were permitted to resume within an hour of the incident.
Witnesses say this was the car the man was dragged out of. It's still sitting at the Flinders/William intersection with the bonnet open. https://t.co/ngA6WobA1D
— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) February 5, 2020
Anybody know what's happening on William x Flinders St? Our building has been locked down#Melbourne pic.twitter.com/UjLRXASRw0
— Sophia Huynh (@sphaech) February 5, 2020
No one was injured, and the man is in custody and will be interviewed by police on Wednesday afternoon.
Police said the incident wasn’t terror-related.
Several office workers and hotel guests along William St were unable to get back into their buildings for over an hour while the exclusion zone was in effect.
Traffic returned to normal before 4pm, but extra police would remain in the area as a precaution.
