LONDON - A number of people were injured after a car collided with security barriers outside London’s Parliament building on Tuesday (Aug 14), police said.
The man who drove the vehicle was arrested, reported Reuters.
“The male driver of the car was detained by officers at the scene. A number of pedestrians have been injured. Officers remain at the scene. We will issue further info when we have it,” London’s police force said in a statement on Twitter.
"At this stage, officers do not believe that anybody is in a life-threatening condition," police said.
London Ambulance tweeted: "We have treated two people at the scene for injuries that are not believed to be serious and have taken them to hospital."
Footage on social media showed heavily armed police response units arriving at the scene, with the area outside the Parliament building in central London cordoned off.
Police said they could not immediately say whether it was a terrorism-related incident or not but their counter-terrorism unit was leading the investigation.
“While we are keeping an open mind, the Met’s Counter-Terrorism Command is leading the investigation into the Westminster incident,” London’s Metropolitan police said on Twitter.
Images showed police holding the man, dressed in jeans and a black puffer jacket, in handcuffs.
Witness Jason Williams spoke to ITV's Good Morning Britain about the incident. "Basically I’ve seen a man driving a vehicle, and he's gone into one of the bollards. There was a loud bang," he said.
"Straight away I thought 'Oh no, this is another terrorist attack'. So I’ve just started to run and the police were saying 'get out, get out of the area'. It (the car) was behind me. I didn’t see anyone else involved. I just saw this one vehicle, so it seems to be deliberate," he added.
Another witness, Ewalina Ochab, told the Press Association: "I think it looked intentional - the car drove at speed and towards the barriers."
She said: "I was walking on the other side (of the road). I heard some noise and someone screamed. I turned around and I saw a silver car driving very fast close to the railings, maybe even on the pavement."
No one was being allowed entry to parliament. As parliament is in recess for summer, most lawmakers are not using the building.
Westminster Underground station, close to parliament, was also closed.
Sky's political correspondent Tom Parmenter said "the police response is very significant", with more officers arriving at the scene.
"Police drafting in more resources as we speak... Some of them plain clothes, some of them in uniform. The cordon is stretching significantly. The judgement of the emergency services is that their response is proportionate to the incident they are dealing with. We still don't know the motive for why that car drove at those barriers," he said.
In March 2017, Khalid Masood, 52, ploughed a car into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge, killing four, before he stabbed to death an unarmed police officer in the grounds of Parliament. He was shot dead at the scene.
It was the first of five attacks on Britain last year which police blamed on terrorism.
Security expert Chris Phillips told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "Clearly this vehicle has crashed into the barriers. The barriers are there to protect the building and the people inside. They've been there a long time actually.
"I think one of the biggest issues for police officers when they approached the vehicle was could it explode. So the fact that the officers have got in there, got the man out and are dealing with it is a really good sign. This could well be some form of an attack that's not quite worked properly for the attacker."
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/...car-hits-barriers-outside-britains-parliament
The man who drove the vehicle was arrested, reported Reuters.
“The male driver of the car was detained by officers at the scene. A number of pedestrians have been injured. Officers remain at the scene. We will issue further info when we have it,” London’s police force said in a statement on Twitter.
"At this stage, officers do not believe that anybody is in a life-threatening condition," police said.
London Ambulance tweeted: "We have treated two people at the scene for injuries that are not believed to be serious and have taken them to hospital."
Footage on social media showed heavily armed police response units arriving at the scene, with the area outside the Parliament building in central London cordoned off.
Police said they could not immediately say whether it was a terrorism-related incident or not but their counter-terrorism unit was leading the investigation.
“While we are keeping an open mind, the Met’s Counter-Terrorism Command is leading the investigation into the Westminster incident,” London’s Metropolitan police said on Twitter.
Images showed police holding the man, dressed in jeans and a black puffer jacket, in handcuffs.
Witness Jason Williams spoke to ITV's Good Morning Britain about the incident. "Basically I’ve seen a man driving a vehicle, and he's gone into one of the bollards. There was a loud bang," he said.
"Straight away I thought 'Oh no, this is another terrorist attack'. So I’ve just started to run and the police were saying 'get out, get out of the area'. It (the car) was behind me. I didn’t see anyone else involved. I just saw this one vehicle, so it seems to be deliberate," he added.
Another witness, Ewalina Ochab, told the Press Association: "I think it looked intentional - the car drove at speed and towards the barriers."
She said: "I was walking on the other side (of the road). I heard some noise and someone screamed. I turned around and I saw a silver car driving very fast close to the railings, maybe even on the pavement."
No one was being allowed entry to parliament. As parliament is in recess for summer, most lawmakers are not using the building.
Westminster Underground station, close to parliament, was also closed.
Sky's political correspondent Tom Parmenter said "the police response is very significant", with more officers arriving at the scene.
"Police drafting in more resources as we speak... Some of them plain clothes, some of them in uniform. The cordon is stretching significantly. The judgement of the emergency services is that their response is proportionate to the incident they are dealing with. We still don't know the motive for why that car drove at those barriers," he said.
In March 2017, Khalid Masood, 52, ploughed a car into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge, killing four, before he stabbed to death an unarmed police officer in the grounds of Parliament. He was shot dead at the scene.
It was the first of five attacks on Britain last year which police blamed on terrorism.
Security expert Chris Phillips told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "Clearly this vehicle has crashed into the barriers. The barriers are there to protect the building and the people inside. They've been there a long time actually.
"I think one of the biggest issues for police officers when they approached the vehicle was could it explode. So the fact that the officers have got in there, got the man out and are dealing with it is a really good sign. This could well be some form of an attack that's not quite worked properly for the attacker."
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/...car-hits-barriers-outside-britains-parliament
