London Police Arrest Suspected ‘Terrorist’ After Car Crash Near Parliament
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — A man has been arrested on suspicion of “terrorist offenses” after crashing a car into security barriers outside Britain’s Parliament and injuring several pedestrians, London police say.
London’s Metropolitan police said on August 14 that they are treating the car crash as a terrorist attack, and that the Met’s Counter-Terrorism Command was leading the investigation.
“The male driver of the car was detained by officers at the scene,” the Metropolitan Police said on Twitter on August 14.
Police said no weapons were recovered at the scene of the crash in the Westminster area.
They said the crash appeared to be a “deliberate act” and that the arrested suspect was not cooperating with investigators.
At least two people who were struck by the vehicle were being treated at a hospital, but police said none of the injured were in a “life-threatening condition.”
Witnesses said the driver appeared to intentionally drive the car at a high speed toward the steel-and-concrete security barriers that surround the British Parliament.
They said he hit at least one pedestrian before turning onto the wrong side of the road and hitting several cyclists at a busy intersection outside Parliament, and then accelerating into the barrier.
The security barriers were extended after the Westminster Bridge attack in March 2017, when Khalid Masood drove a car at a high speed into crowds on Westminster Bridge and then crashed into a gate outside Parliament, killing four people.
“Another terrorist attack in London…These animals are crazy and must be dealt with through toughness and strength!” U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on August 14.
