Woman with knife talked down from balcony

There were dramatic scenes in Cork City last night when gardaí were forced to close a number of streets after a young woman armed with a knife threatened to hurt herself and others as she perched precariously on an apartment block 40ft above a busy road.

Gardaí were alerted by a member of the public after the woman, understood to be British and in her 20s, clambered onto a balcony at the apartment in the Barrack St area at around 7.45pm.

Gardaí rushed to the complex and cordoned off roads, while fire brigade units and ambulances also converged on the scene.