BERLIN (REUTERS) - A landlord demanding rent arrears threatened tenants and German police with a whirring chainsaw, a police spokesman said on Wednesday.

The frightened tenants called police to the scene, and the 45-year-old man eventually dropped the chainsaw when the officers showed their guns.

The spokesman said the landlord was apparently trying to collect 13,000 euros (S$22,592) in rent on a flat in the southern town of Burgau.

He was charged with threatening bodily harm.