MOSCOW, January 8 (Sputnik) — A man armed with a knife was detained Thursday outside the Parliament House in Canberra, Australian Federal Police (AFP) said.
“Around 12:30pm [01:00 GMT], ACT Policing and AFP Protection Services Officers attended to a man who was observed to be armed with a knife… During the de-escalation negotiation process, the man… failed to relinquish the knife. The man has been taken into custody,” the statement published on the AFP website.
According to the statement, “there are no national security concerns regarding this incident.”
Australian authorities issued the country's first high-level terrorist threat in September, 2014 identifying the Parliament House among potential terror target. On December 15, an armed man took the staff and some 30 customers hostage in a cafe at the Martin Place mall in Sydney. The gunman and two hostages later died in hospital following an armed confrontation with police. Another six people were hospitalized with various injuries.
