PART of a Basingstoke apartment block has been blocked off, according to witnesses, after a police incident in the town this evening.

A number of emergency service vehicles seen at Churchill Place this evening, where one man was allegedly taken away in an ambulance and another in a police car.

One on-looker recalled seeing six police cars and two ambulances at the scene, with officers attending at around 6.30pm and remaining there for a couple of hours.

It is not yet clear what the police were tending to. Hampshire Constabulary has been contacted for a comment.

Residents at the apartment block remain largely in the dark over the situation.

One person who lives on the sixth floor of the block says a part of the building has been completely shut down.

“No one’s allowed above the seventh floor,” he said. “We live on the sixth floor so we can go back in.

“There’s loads of people on the grass outside and they can’t get back in. There was 17 I counted that couldn’t get back in their flats.”

The resident says that police are remaining tight-lipped, but the concierge believes that it could be a while before the situation is entirely resolved.

“The concierge said to us something really had happened and it could be going on a while. And the seventh floor is a no go, it’s completely on lockdown.

"It’s all a bit mad.”

The flats are usually a very quiet place, says the resident, and in the year they have lived there they have never seen any trouble.

“It’s unusual,” he added, “and to be honest, the apartments themselves - people are usually friendly and quiet and cause no bother.

“It’s all very strange.”