Italy nursery knife hold-up ends

Relatives of Cristian Familiari tried negotiating before police moved in

A man armed with a box-cutting knife who barricaded himself into a day-care centre in southern Italy has been arrested, reports say.

The 11 children and a teacher who were taken hostage in the centre in Reggio Calabria were all released unharmed.

Police and relatives of the man, named by Italian press as Christian Familiari, spent hours trying to persuade him to leave the building.

Officers finally entered the classroom and arrested him without a struggle.

Releases

The man had allowed cameras from Rai state television into the building, and they filmed him waving the box cutter and shouting as the children cowered in front of him.

Rai television showed the man shouting, surrounded by children

Some reports say he had demanded 500,000 euros (£370,000) but much of his shouting was said to be unintelligible. He had started to release small numbers of children in stages before the police moved in.

The police chief in Reggio Calabria, Santi Giuffre, told the Associated Press the man was complaining about judicial problems, and felt himself "a victim of persecution".

Parents of some of the children had gathered at the school along with a crowd of onlookers.