14 DAY TRIAL // An angry man from Forest Gate, East London, climbed on top of his house and staged a six-hour protest over benefits cuts.
Armed with a hammer, the man reportedly clambered onto the roof of his terraced home and began removing tiles. Neighbors who gathered at the scene say he tore roof tiles from his house and a neighboring property and threw them into the street, complaining that his benefits had been slashed.
“He was shouting and taking tiles off, yelling ‘they stopped my income support, they stopped my housing benefit, how am I supposed to live?’” one of the enraged man's neighbors told the London Evening Standard.
Others say the man was obviously trying to prove a point, as he was shouting grievances about his situation and complaints over the government's welfare policies.
“He was up there for hours shouting about how corrupt the government and police are. Something must have triggered his anger because he was saying ‘the police don’t want you to see what’s in my room because then everyone will see the truth about them,’” local resident Christie Peto, 26, told the Newham Record.
Police closed several roads in Forest Gate and a large area was cordoned off as the man refused to get down from the roof and continued hurling tiles into the street.
Authorities say the man, who was in his 50s or 60s, caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to the houses, but besides that, several cars below the building in Wanstead, London, were also damaged in the cascade of falling slates.
“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,” a Met Police spokesman said.
The man was eventually talked down shortly after 9pm. He was arrested and bailed before being sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He was then taken to hospital where he is currently receiving treatment.
Local residents say this isn't the first time the man is causing disturbance in the neighborhood, as several days ago he also caused nuisance when he played music very loud.
“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,” they said.