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A man with a history of feuding with neighbours created a 10-hour standoff with armed police yesterday, when he refused to come out of his house, despite officers firing multiple rounds of teargas into the building.
The man was led from the house in Ohope, south of Whakatane, at 12.20pm, after members of the armed offenders squad smashed windows and stormed the building.
The beachside town came to a halt while the drama unfolded, as police closed the main road and ordered residents to stay in their homes.
The man had refused to communicate with specialist negotiators called to try to end the standoff, and was handcuffed.
He was wearing a blue dressing gown and had cuts on his leg and face when he emerged. He was taken to Whakatane police station and, after questioning, charged with unlawfully being on a property.
Police said last night it was too early to say whether he would face further charges.
The house on Pohutukawa Ave was left badly damaged by the rounds of tear gas and other distraction devices fired through the windows over a four-hour period, beginning at 8am.
The incident began six hours earlier, when police received a call from the man's neighbours, saying he had smeared a toxic substance on their windowsill.
The substance was initially thought to be cyanide because of its consistency, but the Fire Service later said they believed it to be a pest repellent which could cause nausea but was not harmful to humans unless ingested.
The neighbours were taken to hospital but later released and declined to comment when approached after the siege.
Teams of police and firefighters from around the Bay of Plenty helped in the operation, and a specialist armed offenders squad dog was flown from Hamilton by the Westpac Waikato Air Ambulance.
Residents trapped in their houses watched the drama unfold from balconies and behind partially closed curtains, while others sneaked outside to get a closer look.
Holidaymakers Karen and Allan Caird, staying in a bach directly across the road from the house, said the sound and sight of armed police shooting holes in the windows was not something they would easily forget.
Ohope School, further down Pohutukawa Ave, remained open during the siege, but only three of 270 children on the roll turned up for class after reports of the incident on local radio.
