A man who threatened to set himself alight on top of an eight-storey building in central Pretoria was taken into custody on Wednesday morning.
Police representative Inspector Percy Morokane said the man, believed to be a Congolese refugee seeking asylum, was taken to a police station for questioning.
The man earlier disrupted traffic when he took up position on top of the building, doused himself in what police said was petrol and threatened to set himself alight.
He initially chased away police negotiators who sought to calm him down. A crowd of about 500 onlookers were at some stage egging the man on to jump.
Traffic was disrupted as police and emergency staff cordoned off the area around the building on the corner of Schoeman and Andries streets.
Earlier, the man threw down a cardboard poster that read: ”UNHCR violent racist tribalisme.”
Morokane said the man was believed to be a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. An official from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also arrived at the building. He left after police assured him that his assistance was not immediately required. – Sapa