London terrorism

[superbeets]

[h=1]BREAKING NEWS: Woman dead and several suffer 'catastrophic injuries' after car mows down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before a knifeman is shot after attacking police officer in the grounds of Parliament[/h]

• Four-wheel drive car said to have driven over Westminster Bridge knocking down pedestrians this afternoon
• Victims were said to have been left scattered in the road, with some reportedly floating in the River Thames
• 'Asian' knifeman then got into the grounds of Parliament where he reportedly stabbed a police officer
• The 'middle-aged' attacker was then shot by armed officers as the area was cleared by emergency services
• Parliament was suspended and the Prime Minister was rushed from the scene in an unmarked police car

 

[superbeets]

At least one person is dead after a terror attacker brought carnage to central London today by mowing down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and attacking police with a knife in the grounds of the Houses of Parliament.
More than 12 people are said to have been hit by a vehicle on the bridge after a vehicle described as a '4x4' drove into pedestrians and cyclists before crashing into the gates of Parliament.
An intruder, described by a witness as 'middle-aged and Asian', then managed to break into the grounds of the Parliament and stabbed a police officer before he was shot.
An hour after the attack, paramedics removed one person from the scene after extensive CPR. Another body appeared to have been left on the ground covered by a red blanket.
A doctor at St Thomas' Hospital has said one woman has died and a number of others have been hurt - including some with 'catastrophic' injuries.
Prime Minister Theresa May is said to have been bundled into a car by a plain-clothes police officer and driven quickly from the scene.
Scotland Yard said the attack, which comes a year to the day after the terrorist atrocities in Brussels, is being treated 'as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise'.

+15



A police officer was stabbed by the knifeman before he was shot by other officers. Paramedics are now treating the injured

+15


Emergency teams were seen carrying out CPR inside the palace grounds in New Palace Yard, the main thoroughfare in and out of Parliament

+15


There were disturbing scenes on Westminster Bridge where around a dozen pedestrians were knocked down by the car

+15


Members of the public rushed to help a man run down after the vehicle mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge

• SHARE PICTURE

​

+15


An injured victim walks from the scene on Westminster Bridge where more than 10 people were reported knocked down

 

[superbeets]

Commons Leader David Lidington told MPs a 'police officer has been stabbed' and the 'alleged assailant was shot by armed police' following a 'serious' incident within the parliamentary estate.
Witness Jayne Wilkinson said: 'We were taking photos of Big Ben and we saw all the people running towards us, and then there was an Asian guy in about his 40s carrying a knife about seven or eight inches long.
'And then there were three shots fired, and then we crossed the road and looked over. The man was on the floor with blood.
'He had a lightweight jacket on, dark trousers and a shirt. He was running through those gates, towards Parliament, and the police were chasing him.'
Her partner David Turner added: 'There was a stampede of people running out. You saw the people and you thought 'what the hell is going on'.'

 

[superbeets]

Steve Voake, 55, was walking across the Westminster Bridge and saw at least two bodies lying on the road and one in the water.
'I saw a trainer lying in the road and when I looked more closely I saw that there were a couple of bodies the other side of the road,' he told the Press Association.
'And when I looked over the side there was another body lying in the water with blood all around it.'
Mail journalist Quentin Letts saw the incident out of the window of a Commons office. He told the BBC: 'We heard this sound that sounded like a car crash…
'Then we saw a thick set man in black clothes come through the gates where people would normally drive cars
'This man had something in his hand. It looked like a stick. He was challenged by two policemen. The policeman fell down.
'We could see the man in black movinghis arm in a way that suggested he was either striking or stabbing.'

 

[superbeets]

+15



It is believed this was the series of events this afternoon where a knife attacker drove into pedestrians before he was shot

+15



Armed Police have opened fire and shot a person outside the Houses of Parliament. A vehicle was seen on social media to have crashed into the fence of the palace

+15


Theresa May's armour-plated car is driven from the scene after she was taken from Parliament by a plain clothes police officer

+15



A pedestrian lies stricken on Westminster Bridge after reports a car knocked down people near the Houses Parliament

+15


Paramedics wheel away a victim on Westminster Bridge. A doctor at St Thomas' hospital said some have catastrophic injuries

+15


Police closed off the bridge today while members of the public and paramedics helped those injured on the bridge

• SHARE PICTURE

​

+15


The area was closed off and an air ambulance was seen landing as police sealed the area

 

[superbeets]

Kevin Schofield, the editor of PoliticsHome.com heard 'a very loud bang' from the press gallery inside the Houses of Parliament followed by lots of shouting and men running around.
He initially thought it was a car crash but then he looked outside the window to a heavily-guarded area outside which is out of bounds to the public.
He told Sky News: 'Someone rushed through, attacked a policeman, a policeman went down, another policeman came and he was rescued.
'The man who had assaulted him got up and he appeared to be carrying either a knife or a gun. Then we heard gunfire, lots of gunfire, maybe five or six rounds.
'All I remember seeing is the man approaching the police officer probably with a knife and then there was gunfire.'
Eyewitness Rick Longley described the attack saying: 'We were just walking up to the station and there was a loud bang and a guy, someone, crashed a car and took some pedestrians out.
'They were just laying there and then the whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben.
'A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. I have never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw.'

+15


An aerial view of Westminster Bridge shows ambulance crews treating those who were mowed down by the attacker

+15


An aerial view of the scene shows the scene where victims inside Parliament were being treated

• SHARE PICTURE

​

+15


A view from the opposite angle shows where the policeman was attacked in the shadow of Big Ben this afternoon

 

[superbeets]

After the incident, Radoslaw Sikorski posted a video to Twitter purporting to show people lying injured in the road on Westminster Bridge.
Mr Sikorski, a senior fellow at Harvard's Centre for European Studies, wrote: 'A car on Westminster Bridge has just mowed down at least 5 people.'
People outside the palace could be seen running from the scene when the shots were heard.
An eye witness said that a car was seen to mow down five people on Westminster Bridge.
Police are then believed to have shot a man who tried to enter the Parliamentary Estate.

 

[superbeets]

The dramatic incident comes weeks after it was revealed that UK security services have foiled 13 potential attacks in less than four years, while counter-terrorism units are running more than 500 investigations at any time.
The official threat level for international terrorism has stood at severe, meaning an attack is 'highly likely', for more than two years.
Liberal Democrat transport spokeswoman Baroness Randerson said countries seem to have been 'singled out based on religious beliefs'.
'Of course safety is paramount at all times and we all need to remain vigilant but this ban needs to be explained in detail,' she said.
[h=3]Politicians describe chaotic scenes in Westminster amid security alert[/h]Politicians described chaotic scenes in Westminster after a security alert meant many had to be evacuated from Parliament. Peer Sheila Noakes wrote: 'Shots in Parliament Square. People running like crazy.'

Conservative MP Grant Shapps tweeted: 'Police response instant. Heard commotion, looked round. Police weapons drawn, 4 shots, police ordered us to hit ground & get back, get back.'
Fellow Tory Michael Fabricant described a similar scene, saying: 'I was walking briskly to a vote when crowds of MPs rushed towards me saying that shots have been fired and shouts of 'get back'.'

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron tweeted shortly after news of the incident broke: 'Currently with a shell-shocked group of MPs at New Scotland Yard having been evacuated following the attack. Police doing an incredible job.'
Many MPs spoke about being locked inside rooms in the Parliament building. Green Party leader Caroline Lucas tweeted: 'Locked in Commons with fellow MPs. Thoughts with innocent people hurt today and thanks as ever to Police & other staff working so hard here.'

Labour's David Lammy wrote: 'Locked in the Commons Chamber but my heart goes out to the police officers, those hit by the car on the bridge and their families. Stay safe.'

​

[h=3]HOW PARLIAMENT HAS BEEFED UP SECURITY TO PROTECT AGAINST A TERROR ATTACK[/h]Extra Metropolitan Police firearms officers are regularly put on detail around the grounds of the Houses of Parliament in the aftermath of terror attacks.
Following the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris two years ago, armed officers were positioned at the front vehicle gates to the Palace of Westminster, in a change from normal practice.
Concrete blocks have also been installed around the premises of the Houses in a bid to protect the building from a possible attack.
In recent years, MPs have been told to consider fitting their constituency offices with panic buttons and designating a 'safe room' in their homes.
They are also being briefed on the security plans in case of an attack on the Commons.
Following the stabbing to death of Jo Cox, MPs spent almost £640,000 on boosting security.
During the four months after her murder, politicians spent four times on security measures what they had done in the whole previous year.
Spending on MP's office and home security also rocketed after Mrs Cox was shot three times and stabbed outside a constituency surgery meeting.
Last year it was revealed that 130 MPs had requested additional security measures, including bomb-proof letter boxes and reinforced windows.
Members have also been offered classes in self-defence techniques in a bid to ward off would-be attackers.

 

[superbeets]

London attack: what we know so far





With events unfolding rapidly at Westminster in and around the Houses of Parliament, here is what we know so far



Events are unfolding rapidly at Westminster after a number of incidents in and around the Houses of Parliament.
Here is what the Guardian has been able to confirm so far:

• A police officer has been stabbed and the alleged assailant shot by armed police following an incident inside the security cordon of the Houses of Parliament.

• Photographs emerged of a number of casualties on Westminster Bridge, next to the parliament buildings, who had apparently been struck by a car.

• Footage showed a car that had crashed into the perimeter railings of the parliamentary complex.

• Other images, taken from inside the Palace of Westminster building, showed paramedics treating someone inside the Old Palace Yard, within the security cordon.

• Scotland Yard said the attack in Westminster was being treated “as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise”.

• The House of Commons has been put in lockdown, with many MPs confined to the Commons chamber after parliamentary business was suspended.

• David Lidington, the leader of the House of Commons, confirmed to the assembled MPs that there had been a “serious incident” inside the parliamentary estate.

• He said: “It seems that a police officer has been stabbed; that the alleged assailant was shot by armed police. An air ambulance is attending the scene to remove the casualties. There are also reports of further violent incidents in the vicinity.”

• Minutes after the incident, an emergency services helicopter landed in Parliament Square. Air ambulance medics are attending to the casualties inside the Old Palace Yard and on Westminster Bridge.

• The prime minister, Theresa May, was evacuated safely from the Commons building and driven away.

 

[superbeets]

The bearded bastard lives

 

[superbeets]

[h=2]FOUR dead - including a policeman and a woman - and 20 injured as 'two terrorists' mow down people on Westminster Bridge before one is shot attacking police inside Parliament gates[/h]

More than 12 people were said to have been hit by a vehicle on Westminster Bridge today after a Hyundai i40 drove into pedestrians and cyclists before crashing into the gates of the Houses of Parliament. An intruder described as 'middle-aged and Asian' then managed to break into Parliament's grounds and stabbed a police officer before he was shot. One woman victim is dead and the police officer who was stabbed is also thought to have died. An hour after the attack, paramedics removed one person from the scene after extensive CPR. Another body appeared to have been left on the ground covered by a red blanket. The attack came exactly one year after 32 people were killed in suicide bombings in Brussels. Pictured: An officer points a gun at the intruder on the floor while standing on a knife (left, circled), a woman comes to the aid of a victim on the bridge (top right) and the emergency services help an injured person at the scene (bottom right).