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A man staged a six-hour stand-off with police after climbing on top of his terraced home and hurling roof tiles into the street in a one-man protest over benefits cuts.

Neighbours gathered to watch the drama unfold as officers sealed off neighbouring streets and surrounded the house in a residential cul-de-sac in Wanstead, east London.

The man, who was carrying a hammer and a can of beer, stripped to his waist and remained on the roof for more than six hours before he was finally talked down and arrested by police at 9pm last night.

By then, the roof of one house was stripped almost completely of tiles and he had begun working on the property next-door causing thousands of pounds in damage.

Two cars parked below were damaged in the avalanche of falling slates.

A neighbour said: “He was shouting and taking tiles off, yelling ‘they stopped my income support, they stopped my housing benefit, how am I supposed to live?’

“He worked himself up into a bit of a frenzy and started smashing things.

“He was in his 50s or 60s and was wearing a t-shirt that he soon ripped off. He had a hammer and a can of beer.

“A few days ago he was playing music so loud it sounded like a rave in the street. The day before that he had all these strobe lights going, like it was a concert. I think he’d just worked himself up and it built to this.”

Isabel Gonzalez, 20, added: “I was sitting in my friend’s front room and could hear banging. We went outside and the man was ripping tiles from the roof and shouting. We were all very scared.

“He was also smashing tiles on the cars. I think two cars were damaged. He was being very erratic.”

A Met Police spokesman said: “Police were called at 2.45pm to reports of a man throwing objects off the roof of a house. Road closures were put in place.

“Shortly before 9pm the man was arrested and released on bail. He was not taken into custody.”