Armed police arrested two men on suspicion of firearm offences in Stamford Hill on Tuesday night.
An eyewitness said he heard a crash and then saw a man being chased by officers armed with submachine guns.
The incident occurred outside the home of Seb Murray, 24, who went into the street after hearing the crash before 10pm.
“There were police with … guns, funnelling out of two vehicles and there was a motorbike that appeared to have crashed. It was in quite a bad state in the middle of the road, it looked like it had hit a parked car maybe,” said Mr Murray.
Mr Murray told the Hackney Post: “One chap was trying to run up my road, the police pointed guns at him, telling him to stop and he did.”
“He was arrested pretty quickly. He looked pretty terrified at the sight of those guns.” Mr Murray said he was told by police that the other man had fled in the opposite direction but was later caught.
STOKE NEWINGTON DRAMA Firearms team, cordon set up, helicopter above. Two men on motorcycles being searched for pic.twitter.com/O9eVlaMdWx
— Tom Alex Helm (@tomalexhelm) October 13, 2015
Some residents said they had been escorted from their homes by officers and had to wait behind police cordons.
Hackney Police tweeted on Wednesday that two men had been arrested on suspicion of firearm offences.
However, police do not believe the incident is related to terrorism or hate crime and no shots were fired.
Photos from the scene showed armed officers patrolling and a number of streets including Stoke Newington High Street were closed during the incident.
There were also complaints from residents about the presence of a low-flying police helicopter in the area on social media.
Why does it feel like a helicopter is going to land in my bedroom!! #stokenewington#itsaschoolnight#why#pleasestop
— Jessie Mac (@Jessmacintyre) October 13, 2015
i have no idea what’s going on in stoke newington but it sounds like there is a massive helicopter sitting directly outside my window
— Ellie Bate (@eleanorbate) October 13, 2015
