A man accused of breaking into a secure area of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Downing Street residence in London is due to appear in court today.
Byung Jin Lee (32) was arrested after he scaled a fence from a road open to the public at the back of Number 10 into what officials said was an "outer secure area" on Sunday night. He was armed with a knife.
Police said Mr Lee was held after a short struggle and later charged with "assault of a police officer and possession of a bladed article".
The BBC reported that Mr Blair was there at the time. "We are satisfied that at no time the prime minister was at risk," a police spokesman said.
Security surrounding Downing Street has been tightened in recent years. The road, which lies between the Houses of Parliament and Trafalgar Square, has been closed to tourists for years.
Instead they can peer through the 10-metre gates, erected during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher in 1989 and guarded by heavily armed police.
The street came under attack in February 1991, when the IRA fired mortar bombs at the Downing Street office when former prime minister John Major and his cabinet were inside. The shells exploded in the garden, close to the cabinet room, but no one was injured.