SPAIN: A 12-hour hostage siege at a Spanish bank ended spectacularly late on Monday night when the hostage-taker was arrested after being rammed by a police car as he attempted to escape on a speeding motorcycle.
The man, who had said he was armed with a pistol and a grenade, was allowed to leave the bank, in Alicante, where he had been holding two hostages.
He got onto a motorcycle he had asked for and sped off, but a police car intercepted him. The hostages were reported to be unharmed. The 25-year-old man had initially taken eight hostages but released six during the day. Police engaged in lengthy negotiations with the man, who was still holding the bank manager and a client. At one point, the hostage-taker's father was escorted into the bank to talk to him.
The man initially demanded food, cocaine and tobacco. A motorbike was later brought for him by police and he briefly left the bank with a hostage to make sure it worked, before returning inside, witnesses said.
Spanish channel Telecinco broadcast a conversation with a man it said was the hostage-taker.
"I am really angry with the police because I want to release these people. We have been here a long time and I want to free these innocent people, but the police will not give me what I am asking for," the agitated man said by phone.