A tense stand-off was taking place in Auckland, New Zealand, early today as armed police tried to remove an Irishman from his home so he can be deported to Britain. Mr Danny Butler told police he had poured petrol around his house as hey prepared to deport him. "If they come, we'll fire it," he said. Police said Mr Butler had attacked officers and immigration officials after the government turned down his request to stay in New Zealand on humanitarian grounds.
In 1991 he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for possessing ammunition in Northern Ireland. But he fled to New Zealand where he sought refugee status, claiming he would be killed by the now-defunct Irish Peoples' Liberation Organisation. Numerous legal appeals to stay have failed.