COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Danish police arrested a 22-year-old Iranian asylum seeker on Wednesday after he threatened to blow himself up on the roof of the building where he was staying.

The police said in a statement the man had wanted to commit suicide over “a broken heart”, signaling it was over a private romantic affair, not intended as a political gesture.

A police negotiator persuaded the man to give up his plan, the statement said.

Police declined to comment further on the incident and would not say whether the man had carried explosives.

The incident occurred on the Danish island of Funen.

Denmark, like many other European countries, has seen a big increase in the number of people seeking asylum, many of them fleeing conflicts or poverty in the Middle East and beyond.