French authorities arrested a man armed with a machete in Paris

A Paris street was put on lockdown this morning after reports a man armed with a machete barricaded himself inside a hotel room.

Officers were called to the 11th arrondissement after witnesses reportedly saw a man brandishing a weapon inside Pére-Lachaise metro station at around 10.45am local time.

He was later arrested inside his hotel room, according to local reports.

News site Actu Paris said the Rue du Chemin-Vert was closed with workers told to stay inside as police hunted the suspect.

At one point officers were spotted perched on the roof of a building meters away from the station.

The street was reopened at around mid-day and there are no reports of injuries. French police have not commented on the incident yet and the man’s motives are unclear.

Earlier, one witness tweeted: ‘There’s a guy walking through the halls of Père Lachaise with a machete. I watched my life parade, not knowing whether to stay in the subway or run home.’ France is on high alert after a string of attacks feared to be terror related.

Three people were killed in a stabbing at a church in Nice last week, while on Saturday a Greek Orthodox priest was left fighting for his life after being shot outside his church in Lyon.

French police have foiled several other suspected attacks, which come amid tensions over a French newspaper’s publication of caricatures mocking the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

Source: Metro