The Wall Street Journal - London Attack: One Person Killed After Van Hits Pedestrians in Finsbury Park
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June 19, 2017. Jenny Gross, Wiktor Szary.
Police investigating incident as possible terror attack.
LONDON—A vehicle rammed into a crowd outside a mosque in north London early Monday, killing one person and injuring at least 10 others, in what British authorities said was a potential terror attack.
A 48-year-old man was detained by members of the public at the scene and arrested, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. He was transported to a hospital as a precaution and will be taken into custody once discharged, police said.
Toufik Kacimi, chief executive of the Muslim Welfare House, told broadcaster Sky News that witnesses heard the alleged attacker say “I did my bit” before being detained. A local imam intervened to protect the man from the crowd, Mr. Kacimi said.
“What I can confirm: It is not a mental health issue, the guy did what he did deliberately,” he said.
One man was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Eight people were taken to three hospitals, while two people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, the police said.
“At this stage there are no reports of any person having suffered knife injuries,” the police said, following media reports that the van driver stabbed people.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the incident was being treated as a potential terrorist attack.
Mohamed Abdulle, a 20-year-old delivery truck driver, said he was two cars behind the van when it swerved into a crowd of people shortly after midnight. He saw two individuals run from the van and people at a nearby shop tackled and held a third person until the police arrived.
The attackers looked like they were in their mid-30s or mid-40s and were white, he said.
“He just swerved into the corner,” Mr. Abdulle said. “I’ve seen six people on the floor. All I could see was people scattered on the floor.”
The Counter Terrorism Command is investigating the incident. Police said no other suspects at the scene have been identified or reported. “Due to the nature of the incident, the police will deploy extra resources to reassure the public, especially those observing Ramadan,” the police said.
The Muslim Council of Britain, which represents organizations and mosques around the U.K., said a van ran over worshipers as they left the Finsbury Park Mosque. “Our prayers are with the victims,” it said on Twitter.
The council later tweeted that the attack took place outside the Muslim Welfare House near the mosque, not outside the Finsbury Park Mosque itself.
“It appears from eye witness accounts that the perpetrator was motivated by Islamophobia,” said Harun Khan, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, in a statement. “We urge calm as the investigation establishes the full facts, and in these last days of Ramadan, pray for those affected and for justice.”
The attack comes less than a month after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside Manchester Arena following an Ariana Grande concert, killing 22, many of them teenagers. The U.K.’s terrorism threat level was briefly raised to its highest and most critical level after the Manchester attack, but was subsequently lowered to severe, meaning an attack is seen as highly likely.
“This is a terrible incident,” Mrs. May said. “All my thoughts are with those who have been injured, their loved ones, and the emergency services on the scene.”
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, said he was “totally shocked,” adding that he was in touch with the mosques, police and local authorities.
At Finsbury Park, a 23-year-old graduate student who declined to give his name said he was leaving prayers when he heard screaming. “I was literally walking past,” he said. “Man. People were shouting, people were crying.”
People gathered outside the Finsbury Park subway station waiting for news about what had happened.
Saeed Hashi, a 28-year-old who works at a London subway station, said he was smoking a cigarette near Finsbury Park Mosque after prayers when he saw a van ram into three people, including an older woman, and then continue to knock down others.
“We saw a van was driving very fast, so we thought at the beginning he wanted to catch the traffic light,” Mr. Hashi said. “But he didn’t. He hit a woman first and then two men. He carried on, and another three, or four, or five.”
Mr. Hashi said he and five others pinned the alleged attacker to the ground after he jumped out of the van. The man screamed obscenities about Muslim people as he tried to escape his captors.
Mr. Hashi said the alleged attacker, a muscular man with a tattoo, bruised him and ripped his white T-shirt. He said he also saw two other people flee the scene.
“We thought at the beginning he was drunk on something, but when I came near him, he didn’t smell like alcohol.”
Mr. Hashi said he saw a woman bleeding from her legs and other people on the ground. Emergency officials tried to resuscitate a man on the ground, he said.
Mr. Hashi said he was in a state of shock.
“I was walking, and I thought I was dreaming or something,” he said. “It’s just a hate crime against religion. Tomorrow they will say he was mentally ill.”
The Finsbury Park incident is the latest London attack where a vehicle was used as a weapon. Earlier this month, three assailants mowed down people on London Bridge before stabbing people with knives, leaving a total of eight people dead. In March, an attacker used a vehicle to hit pedestrians outside the British Parliament, killing five.
The Egyptian-born radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was jailed for life by a U.S. court for supporting terrorism, used to preach at the Finsbury Park Mosque.
In 2005, the mosque changed its board of trustees and imams. It hasn’t been linked to extremism since the changes.
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