Updated July 26, 2017 14:02:59

Spanish police used a traffic bollard to knock down a man threatening officers with a knife, during an incident at a busy border crossing checkpoint with Morocco.

The confrontation, which left one officer with minor injuries, was captured on CCTV footage.

The man was detained after attempting to cross the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

Video of the incident, shared by Spain's Interior Minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, shows a man threatening police with a knife at the checkpoint in Beni Enzar, before police knocked him to the ground with a white traffic bollard.

The man, believed to be Moroccan, approached the border checkpoint on Tuesday morning (local time) and shouted, "Allahu akbar" (Arabic for "God is great"), before he was brought down by police.

In CCTV footage, the man, dressed in a blue shirt and white shorts, is seen walking across the border, waving the knife.

Spanish police kept their distance before one officer ran up behind the man and knocked him to the ground by striking him on the head, before several police tackled and detained him.

One of the officers was treated after he received a small cut to one finger, Spain's Interior Ministry delegate for Melilla, Abdelmalik El Barkani, told reporters at a news conference.

Mr El Barkani said the investigation into the incident was still open and all hypotheses were being considered.

Mr Zoido credited the "fast, coordinated and professional performance" of the police for preventing a serious incident.

ABC/wires

Topics: police, law-crime-and-justice, unrest-conflict-and-war, spain, morocco

First posted July 26, 2017 11:40:58