Police use capsicum spray, tasers to subdue man armed with knife who scaled CBD building site

Police spent Friday morning locked in a standoff with a naked man wielding a knife who scaled one of the largest Big Build projects in Melbourne’s CBD.

An intense standoff in Melbourne’s CBD has ended after a naked man with a knife scaled one of Melbourne’s largest Big Build projects in the CBD.

The Friday morning standoff ensued when police responded to reports of a man brandishing a knife at the construction site of the new Town Hall station, on the corner of Swanston St and Flinders Lane.

Police spent the morning negotiating with the knife-armed man who had climbed “several storeys” high at a construction site installing the new Town Hall station.

Police spent the morning negotiating with the armed man on the roof. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

A man is captured in a standoff with police after scaling a Melbourne building site. Picture: Jacqueline Felgate

Hundreds of construct on workers were promptly evacuated from the site, as were the workers of the nearby City Square construction site.

The bustling CBD was awash with workers clad in high vis gear and hard hats waiting for the standoff to end for much of Friday morning.

After deploying capsicum spray and using a taser, police escorted the man into an ambulance just before 11am and he was taken to hospital under police guard.

Workers returned to their sites shortly after.

Emergency services respond to a man allegedly armed with a knife running through the metro station being constructed above the city square. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Emergency services respond to a man allegedly armed with a knife running through the metro station being constructed above the city square. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

The man was filmed drinking a stubbie in the middle of the construction site as four heavily armed police officers had their guns drawn nearby.

He was dangerously close to a large pit that descends well below street level.

“Officers received reports of a man armed with a knife at a building site at the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Lane shortly after 6.30am,” police said in a statement.

“Police quickly responded to the scene and deployed capsicum foam while attempting to arrest the man however he fled and climbed several storeys up scaffolding.”

No injuries have been reported.