Man with knives tasered outside Buckingham Palace

Scotland Yard said the incident happened at 11.50am. The man was arrested.

Josh Greenberg, who captured dramatic pictures of the scene said: "I was walking past the palace, heard some commotion in the area next to the Victoria Memorial looked to my right, the guy ran out into the middle of the square with a knife at his neck. Within a few seconds he was surrounded by police horses and officers on foot. Less than two minutes later a car came with officers with Tasers.

"One stood in front of him and the other went around from behind and discharged the Taser then the police got him on the floor, kicked the knives away and put him in the back of a van."

^{The man holding a knife to his neck before being tasered outside Buckingham Palace (Grant Shepherd)}

Large crowds had gathered for the Changing of the Guard as the man appeared brandishing a knife. Witnesses said the band played on as the chaos unfolded.

Within 10 seconds police arrived on the scene and fired the Taser at the man who, after initially rushing at the officer, collapsed.

^{Moments after a man holding a knife to his neck was tasered outside Buckingham Palace (Grant Shepherd)}

Further photos showed two knives, a hat and a pair of trainers believed to belong to the man who was arrested.

Prayer beads were also found at the scene.

^{(Victoria Ward)}

It is understood that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were at Sandringham at the time.

Two knives were found on the ground within the police cordon.

^(PA)

The incident was filmed by onlookers. The man can be seen taking a series of swipes at an officer as the stun gun is fired.

But as it connects he falls to the ground watched by hundreds of tourists who had assembled to watch the changing of the guard and take photographs of the palace.

^{A scenes of crime officer documents evidence at the scene between the Queen Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace (PA)}

Kevin Burrows, 33, a kitchen porter from Kingston, said: "A man just started running towards the palace, I just saw him running towards the front gate. I think he had three knives.

"Then the police suddenly surrounded him. They were shouting at everybody to get back. There were police on horses. I saw the shot fired, the police officer was about three metres from him.

"It took a couple of seconds for him to fall to the ground. He was just surrounded by police. He was carried off in a police van," said Mr Greenberg, a sixth-former at St Paul's School in London.

"He was shouting but it was quite unintelligible. Police were clearly telling him to drop the knife and instructing public to get back."

^{(@GazWeetman)}

The man, who is understood to be in his 50s, was taken to a central London police station for further questioning and a medical examination.

According to the latest available statistics from Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan Police used a TASER 224 times between October 1 2010 and March 31 2011.