Man held after wielding blades outside Palace

A man was in police custody after being Tasered outside Buckingham Palace while shouting and holding a knife to his own neck.

The man, thought to be in his 50s, was seen ranting and pressing another six-inch blade to his chest, while holding a set of beads.

As a policeman shot him with the Taser he lunged at the officer, taking a series of swipes before the electrical charge knocked him to the ground.

The drama unfolded as hundreds of tourists and Londoners gathered outside the palace for yesterday's midday changing of the guard.

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Witnesses said the suspect broke through a barrier and was walking towards the guards when he was stopped by police who were "on him in seconds".

A video posted on YouTube shows the bespectacled man shouting and walking round, while holding the knives against his body, before an officer stuns him with the charge.

He was quickly surrounded and the weapons kicked out of harm's way while officers checked him over.

Eyewitness Kevin Burrows, from Surrey, said the man broke through a cordon as the changing of the guard was about to happen.

He said: "There must have been about 15 police officers on foot who surrounded him once he had been Tasered.

"The police saw him really quickly and were obviously cautious."

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were at Sandringham at the time of the incident.