A man claiming to be armed with a pistol and a grenade has released six of the eight hostages he was holding at a bank in Spain's eastern resort of Alicante.
Police were negotiating with the man, who was still holding the bank's manager and a client after almost 12 hours. The hostage-taker's father was escorted into the bank to talk to him, police said.
The would-be bank-robber had initially demanded food, drugs and tobacco. A Honda motorbike was later brought for him by police and he briefly left the bank with a hostage to try it, before returning inside, witnesses said.
Spanish television channel Telecinco broadcast a conversation with a man it said was the hostage-taker at the branch of Banco Popular.
"I am really angry with the police because I want to release these people. We have been here a long time and I want to free these innocent people, but the police will not give me what I am asking for," the agitated man told Telecinco by telephone.
The hostage-taking was unrelated to recent bombs linked to Islamic radicals which have put Spain's nerves on edge following March 11 train attacks which killed 191 people.
Some 40 armed police cordoned off a 500-metre stretch of the street outside the bank in southern Alicante. Several ambulances and a fire engine were on hand.