Donald Trump Responds To London Incident

An assailant fatally stabbed a police officer at the gates to Britain’s Parliament compound Wednesday after plowing a vehicle through terrified pedestrians along a landmark bridge. The attacker was shot and killed by police, but not before claiming a total of three lives in what appeared to be Europe’s latest high-profile terrorist attack. Personal details about the suspected attacker were not immediately made public. Police said the man traced a deadly path across the Westminster Bridge, running down people with an SUV, then ramming the vehicle into the fence encircling Parliament. More than 20 people were reported injured. [As the London attacks show, the sedate sedan can be turned into a deadly, unpredictable weapon] Finally, the attacker charged with a knife at officers stationed at the iron gates leading to the Parliament grounds, authorities said. The dead and injured were left scattered on some of London’s most famous streets. Crumpled bodies lay on the Westminster Bridge over the River Thames, including at least two people killed. Outside Parliament, a Foreign Office minister — covered in the blood of the stabbed police officer — tried in vain to save his life. Parliament chambers and offices were put on full lockdown for more than two hours and officials shut down the famous London Eye Ferris wheel, which overlooked the scene. “This is a day that we planned for but hoped would never happen. Sadly it has now become a reality,” said the assistant Metropolitan Police commissioner, Mark Rowley, outside Scotland Yard’s headquarters. As he spoke, the bells of Big Ben tolled six times to mark the hour. Later, after chairing a meeting of the government’s emergency committee, British Prime Minister Theresa May said: “The location of this attack was no accident. The terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech.” But “any attempt to defeat those values through violence and terror is doomed to failure,” she vowed, adding: “Tomorrow morning, Parliament will meet as normal.” Even before full details emerged, the attack and resulting chaos appeared certain to raise security levels in London and other Western capitals and bring further scrutiny to counterterrorism measures. Police respond to the scene of an attack outside London’s Houses of Parliament View Photos , Wednesday, March 22, 2017. “We are treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise,” said a Twitter message from London Metropolitan Police. [In Europe, terror fears are now fact of life] The attack occurred on Parliament’s busiest day of the week, when the prime minister appears for her weekly questions session and the House of Commons is packed with visitors. The Palace of Westminster, the ancient seat of the British Parliament, is surrounded by heavy security, with high walls, armed officers and metal detectors. But just outside the compound are busy roads packed with cars and pedestrians. The attack — a low-tech, high-profile assault on the most potent symbol of British democracy — fits the profile of earlier strikes in major European capitals that have raised threat levels across the continent in recent years. It was apparently carried out by a lone assailant who used easily available weapons to attack and kill victims in a busy, public setting. British security officials have taken pride in their record of disrupting such attacks even as assailants in continental Europe have slipped through. But they have also acknowledged that their track record would not stay pristine, and that an attack was inevitable. When it happened, it was shocking nonetheless. Cellphones captured scenes of carnage amid some of London’s most renowned landmarks. The target — Westminster — was heavily guarded. But the weapons of choice — an SUV and a knife — made the attack difficult to prevent, requiring the assailant neither to acquire illegal weapons nor to plot with other conspirators. Rowley said investigators believe that just one assailant carried out the attack, but he encouraged the public to remain vigilant.

• 2017-03-23T00:33:55+00:00
• Duration: 00:15

• DonaldTrump
• TRUMP
• London
• UKParliamentattack
• UKParliament

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