The brave police who confronted a man clutching a knife in a terrifying street stand-off are in line for official honours.

Police say the man had threatened officers and members of the public before he was arrested.

At one point he straddled the roof of a moving police car but it braked and the man fell into the road.

Officers overpowered him and pinned him to the ground.

One struck his arm with a baton, forcing him to drop his weapon.

In today's Argus we publish the first astonishing pictures of the stand-off.

A Sussex Police spokeswoman has said all the officers involved would be considered for commendations.

Yesterday, The Argus reported police were called to Brunswick Street in Hove on Saturday morning at about 11am.

Police had received reports of a knifeman threatening members of the public as he walked down Brunswick Road and into nearby Waterloo Street.

These pictures were taken by Brian Butterworth who watched events unfold from his fourth floor flat in Waterloo Street.

Mr Butterworth, 38, a computer systems designer, said: "I was sitting by my window and heard sirens and screeching tyres. There was a guy on top of the police car straddling the lights and flailing around.

"I turned to get my camera.

"He ran off round past them and then turned to confront them. It was then I saw he had a knife.

"There was a stand-off and an officer with a long stick hit him on the hand and he dropped it."

Mr Butterworth's home is just yards from where the incident unfolded.

He said: "I just kept thinking, this is Saturday morning in Hove. There shouldn't be some man with a knife wandering around."

The keen amateur photographer turned to grab his camera and captured two minutes of action in images.

He said he would have gone down to help but knew it would probably all be over by the time he reached the street.

A group of young women enjoying a hen weekend in the city were among innocent bystanders who witnessed Saturday's frightening scenes.

Emma Carroll was staying in a hotel in Waterloo Street with friends when they narrowly missed being caught in the path of the rampaging man.

Ms Carroll, a personal assistant from Kent, said: "We were staying at the Lichfield House and were just about to leave our hotel to walk to our car, which was parked near the top of the road.

"A man stopped us outside our hotel and told us to wait inside.

"As he did so a man ran past chasing another man with a knife. We quickly closed our door and watched from the window.

"It was very frightening and if it wasn't for the man who stopped us coming out onto the street, the man would have run straight into us.

"A lucky escape for us I think."

Miraculously, no one was injured during the incident.

* Ayhan Kilavuz, 36, of Brunswick Road, Hove, appeared in court yesterday charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and making threats to kill.

For more images of this dramatic incident, see today's Argus newspaper.