A man barricaded himself in a hospital in Palma and threatened to burn himself to death if the social services withdrew custody of a recently born son. The man locked himself in the room where the mother and the child were and constantly insisted on his decision to burn himself alive if they did not let him leave the hospital with his newborn son, according to Ultima Hora.
The man took this drastic measure on Friday after officials from the Institut Mallorcan d’Afers Socials (IMAS) informed him of their intention to remove custody of the minor for unknown reasons. The detainee spent more than an hour in the room threatening forceful actions if they did not let him leave.
Given the turn that the threat was taking, the Son Llàtzer Hospital requested the immediate intervention of the National Police. Numerous agents and a negotiator traveled to the hospital, who was in permanent contact with the detainee. The man had barred the door from the inside and was insisting that he would set fire to the room in order to spread it throughout the hospital.
The negotiator managed to get the man to leave the room for a moment and at that moment he was stopped by the rest of his colleagues who were in the hospital area. The man tried to take refuge in the room again with the woman and the child, but the rapid intervention of the agents prevented him. When he was arrested, the man was not carrying firearms or sharp or dangerous objects.
