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A man believed to be wearing a balaclava and carrying a life-sized cut-out of the Queen was dragged from a Metro train by police on Friday morning, eye-witnesses say.

Passengers say the front of the train was evacuated when the man boarded the Metro at South Gosforth and commuters moved into another carriage until police arrived at the scene, it is claimed.

A witness on the train said that the man, who was said to be carrying a cardboard cut-out of the Queen, was removed from the Metro by police officers.

They said at least six police officers dragged the man from the station and that he was still wearing the balaclava while being escorted out.

Two police vans and a police car were seen outside the station, and passengers reported delays of at least 20 minutes.

Metro posted on its Twitter account: “There are delays of up to 15 mins to trains running between South Gosforth and South Shields and South Hylton due to a police incident.”

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: “At 8.25am we got a report of a man behaving suspiciously and being aggressive towards staff at South Gosforth Metro station.

“Police attended and a man has been arrested.”

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