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Michael Green, 48, has been charged with false imprisonment and making a bomb hoax
He was arrested after a security alert closed a major shopping street in central London
"It is all back to business as usual," an official says
Police identified Saturday the man believed to be at the center of a security alert that closed a major shopping street in central London a day earlier.
Michael Green, 48, of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was charged with weapon possession, false imprisonment, making a bomb hoax and recklessly endangering life, according to London’s Metropolitan Police.
“Yesterday’s events were extremely rare and I would like to thank the general public and local business community for the support they provided to my officers in dealing with these matters so expeditiously,” Detective Chief Inspector Raffaele D’Orsi, of Camden police, said in a statement.
“Finally I can confirm it is all back to business as usual in Tottenham Court Road and the surrounding area,” he said.
The alarm was first raised around noon Friday, with reports of a man causing a disturbance and throwing objects from an upper-floor window. Police said electrical equipment was among the items tossed to the street below.
A 300-meter (980-foot) cordon was put in place on Tottenham Court Road, London’s Metropolitan Police said.
Unconfirmed eyewitness reports suggest the man entered an office building housing an employment agency.
The man, who appeared to be unstable, had some kind of canister strapped to him and threatened to blow it up, the witnesses said.
A number of buildings in the area were evacuated. The incident caused major disruption on a street usually busy with traffic, shoppers and local workers on their lunch break.
The alert came three months ahead of the Olympic Games in London, when a major security operation will be in place.
