Armed police hold suspect with knives in rucksack near Houses of Parliament

Forensic Officers collect evidence at the scene (John Phillips/Getty Images)

A MAN has been arrested in Whitehall with a rucksack containing knives.

Armed police detained the man close to Parliament Square and the scene of last month’s terror attack by Khalid Masood.

The bearded suspect, who was dressed in dark clothing, was wrestled to the ground on a traffic island at the Parliament end of Whitehall, close to the Foreign Office and the entrance to Downing Street.

Scotland Yard said one man had been arrested and there had been no reported injuries.

Images from the scene showed three knives on the ground close to a brown rucksack.

An officer in forensic overalls could be seen taking photographs of the knives.

The suspect was detained at the scene for several minutes within view of journalists and passers by before he was eventually taken away in a police vehicle.

Recruiters Harry Peasnell, 27, and Andy Burnage, 22, were leaving the adjacent building which houses various Government offices after a meeting with officials when they were told over the tannoy the usual entrance on to Whitehall was closed.

As they made their way back towards Parliament from the alternative House Guards Road entrance they said they were pushed back up Great George Street by several plain clothes police officers.

They then made their way to Parliament Square where they said they saw a man in his 20s or 30s, who they thought was the suspect, being spoken to by police next to the wall of the offices.

Mr Peasnell, who says he regularly has meetings in Westminster, said police were “quick on the scene” and that he was not worried like he was during the terror attack in the area just weeks ago.

“Last time all the buildings were on lockdown and no one was allowed to leave,” he said.

Westminster has been on a state of heightened alert since Masood launched his attack on March 22, killing five people, including Pc Keith Palmer.

Masood drove at pedestrians before stabbing Pc Palmer as he guarded the cobbled forecourt of the Palace of Westminster. He was shot dead by police.