A busy shopping street in south London has been placed on lockdown after a man climbed onto the roof of a house and began “hurling bricks” at police.

Police raced to the scene after they were called to reports of a man assaulted at an address in Twickenham in the early hours of this morning.

Officers discovered a man, aged in his 30s, with a head injury. He was taken to hospital.

A Met Police spokesman told the Standard that while officers were dealing with the incident, another man climbed onto the roof of the house and “began throwing objects and damaging the building."

He was refusing to come down more than seven hours after police were called to the address at 4.55am.

Video footage filmed from the window of a nearby home shows a man in the distance throwing objects from the roof as the sun rises behind him.

Heath Road was sealed off as police in riot gear swarmed the area and advised motorists to find alternative routes. Up to 80,000 rugby fans are expected to descend on Twickenham later today for England's game against Fiji.

Jonathan Hodder, 39, a sales director who lives nearby, told the Standard: "At 5.30 am this morning, we could hear and see the police helicopter buzzing overhead.

"My friend Andy and I walked to the train station just after 7am. We noticed at the end of Tennyson Avenue the road had been cordoned off with police tape.

"On closer inspections there were five vans and officers preparing to don full riot gear, shields etc. When asking the police office she informed us there was a guy on the roof throwing bricks down onto Heath Road."

Shocked residents took to social media as the drama unfolded.

Local blog Twickenham Tweets posted: “Heath Road #Twickenham closed to traffic. Person on roof has been throwing bricks off it. Situation on going.”

Another person tweeted: “Heath Road up to the green sealed off by police tape. Man on the roof throwing bricks at police. Avoid area.”

A Met Police spokesman later confirmed that the man had been arrested.

They said: “Police were called at approximately 04:55hrs on Saturday, 19 November to reports of a disturbance at an address in Heath Road, Twickenham.

“On attending the scene officers found a man , believed aged in his 30s, who had been assaulted suffering a head injury. He was taken to hospital - his injuries are not life threatening.

“While officers were on scene, a man climbed on to the roof of the address and began throwing objects and damaging the building. He remains there.

“Officers are on scene and a cordon remains in place.”