Crowds who encouraged a man to jump as police tried to talk him down from the roof of a three-storey building have been condemned.

A number of onlookers shouted up to the man, swearing at him and telling him to leap because they wanted a better picture on their phones, while police were negotiating with him.

Former councillor and lay member for patient and public engagement for NHS Thanet, Clive Hart, has slammed their actions.

He said: "I absolutely chastise that, I cannot accept it because you don't know what the mental state of the person is.

"I cannot condone anyone making any sort of gesture like that, more than that I condemn it."

The man left the roof of the building in the early hours of this morning after almost 24 hours.

He had climbed onto the top of the building on the corner of Ethelbert Road at 2.18am yesterday morning.

Over the course of the morning, a number of attempts were made to persuade the man from the roof of the Riz Restaurant building.

VIDEO: The man on the roof

Firefighters used a turntable ladder on a height vehicle to attempt to approach the man but he seemingly refused to come down.

Road closures were put in place while the incident continued.

An interpreter was then called to the scene, and could be seen speaking to the man from Bath Road, opposite the building.

In the afternoon he was filmed hurling tiles from the roof of the three-storey building on Northdown Road.

Windows of the houses opposite were smashed and damage was caused to parked cars nearby.

The man could then been seen ducking back in to a house through a roof window, once appearing with what looked like cigarettes and a tablet computer and then again going back in and appearing with a duvet.

The man was arrested at 1.48am today and is now in custody. Police said he is 30 and from the Margate area.

He is being held on suspicion of public order offences, criminal damage and assault of a police officer.

People have since been allowed back in to their homes and road restrictions have been lifted.