Stockholm standoff ends as would-be bomber leaves building unarmed

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/19/stockholm-standoff-ends-would-be-bomber-sweden

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A man who threatened to set off explosives in central Stockholm, prompting an hours-long lockdown in the Swedish capital, has given himself up to police, a spokesman said.

Police sealed off large parts of the city and evacuated buildings on Thursday as they negotiated with the man who was holed up in a building near the headquarters of the main ruling political party, the Moderates, saying he was carrying explosives.

"The negotiation went well in that he understood that it was an untenable situation," the police spokesman Kjell Lindgren said. "He came out, he showed he wasn't dangerous and he could be detained undramatically and he has now been taken away from there … What remains for us is to search the premises to make sure there are no dangerous objects."

The man had made threats against the Moderates and the opposition Social Democrats, causing police to cordon off large areas around the Moderates' headquarters in the old town and the Social Democrats' offices in another part of the city centre.

The Swedish news agency TT said the man was reported to have been wearing a bomb belt when he entered the building. Lindgren said the headquarters was being searched and the man would be questioned.