Four French restaurant staff held hostage freed by police
No one was hurt during the operation at the pizzeria located in Issy-les-Moulineaux
ISSY-LES-MOULINEAUX: French police on Saturday detained a knife-wielding man who took four staff hostage at his parents' restaurant outside Paris.
The employees were freed and no one was hurt during the operation at the pizzeria located in the town of Issy-les-Moulineaux in the southwestern suburbs of the French capital, not far beyond the Paris ring road.
"The operation is over," a police source told AFP.
A source close to the case said earlier the man was a drug addict, while the police source said he had already "committed similar acts" at his home in 2022 and threatened to commit suicide.
Shortly after the arrival of the police, an AFP journalist saw the parents of the man who were visibly distraught.
The man, who is around 35-40, was not previously known to the police.
A large number of police, some wearing helmets and carrying weapons, were at the scene, along with police cars and fire engines. Around twenty officers, wearing orange armbands, stood in front of the restaurant.
Earlier in the day police set up a security perimeter around the venue. Several neighbouring restaurants were closed.
Representatives of the Search and Intervention Brigade (BRI), an elite Paris police unit, were deployed to the scene. A mediator was brought in and negotiations were held before the police intervened.
The man had locked himself in the restaurant just before 1:00 pm local time (noon GMT). The hostages were freed around 4:00 pm.
Anthony, a 23-year-old student who did not want to give his last name, said he saw the man every evening.
"He's not well," he said. "I think he's got a drug problem."