A man has been arrested after allegedly kicking a woman down a flight of stairs in an unprovoked attack in a Berlin metro station.

Shocking CCTV footage of the October attack was released by police and made news around the world.

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In it the man approaches the woman from behind in the Hermannstrasse U-Bahn station in southern Berlin and kicks her, sending her falling face first down the stairs.

The woman broke her arm in the attack and required hospital treatment.

Police arrested the alleged attacker as he arrived back from Berlin from the south of France, where he was believed to be in hiding.

Police have not released his identity, but he has been identified by Bulgarian media reports as 27-year-old Bulgarian Svetoslav Stoykov. He has three children in Bulgaria, and criminal records for robbery and theft, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

He was employed in a restaurant and on a building site, in Berlin. In the footage, the two men who stand and watch the attack are said to be the man's brothers.

Prosecutors are now weighing up whether to charge the man with attempted manslaughter or a lesser charge of serious bodily harm.

According to prosecution spokesman Thomas Fels, the suspect has already made a statement, but he had confirmed or denied the charges.

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