Australian police on Monday arrested a man who rammed his vehicle into the gates of the Russian consulate in Sydney’s eastern suburb of Woollahra.
New South Wales Police said the incident occurred shortly after 8 a.m. local time (2200 GMT) when officers tried to engage the driver, whose car was parked in the consulate’s driveway without authorisation. Instead, the man accelerated and crashed into the gates.
The Australian Federal Police confirmed that its diplomatic protection unit responded to the consulate’s call for assistance. Authorities said no one was injured and the man was taken into custody at the scene. His motive remains under investigation.
Television footage showed a white SUV with a smashed window abandoned near the consulate’s flagpole. Witnesses described a tense standoff before the crash, with police drawing their firearms and urging the driver to exit the vehicle.
The consulate was briefly closed but later reopened. The AFP stressed there was “no current or impending threat to the consulate or the local community.”
