Man held for attempting to climb White House barrier

A man has been arrested outside the White House grounds after he attempted to scale a bicycle barrier set up in front of the main fence, just a week after a small drone crashed inside the world's most protected mansion.

Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said the man tried to climb the temporary barrier on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the grounds on Sunday.

The barrier has been put in place after an incident in September when an intruder climbed the fence and eventually got inside the White House.

The man was taken into custody by the Secret Service and charged with unlawful entry, Leary said.

He was turned over to District of Columbia police, the Washington Post reported.

No information was immediately available about the man or any motive he may have had. Leary said an effort would be made to speak with him.

The auxiliary barrier is composed of a series of inter- locking metal sections about eight-feet long and about three- and-a-half feet high. Each section, which includes a series of vertical bars, looks like a bicycle rack.

Last week, a small drone crashed into the lawns of the White House, but the man controlling the aerial vehicle said he did not intend it to go there.

A fence climbing incident last year led to a shake-up in the top management of the Secret Service.        

In that incident, a man climbed the main fence, sprinted across the lawn and tress-passed deep into the White House before being stopped.