Declared Terror incident in London

[BlessaYourHeart 4,237]

Ongoing terror incident in London! 

Knife attack and a car ran into a group of people! 

Its currently unfolding but has been officially declared a terror incident 

At least 1 dead and others seriously injured http://www.itv.com/news/story/2017-03-22/live-updates-woman-dead-and-police-officer-stabbed-in-terrorist-incident-outside-parliament/ 

 

comes after the terror threat was labelled high 

A lot of confusion going on 

 

mods if this is already being discussed please murge 

[47of74 52,608]

Yes I saw that too.

http://news.met.police.uk/news/latest-on-westminster-incident-229843

Quote

Since 14:40hrs this afternoon (Wednesday, 22 March) the MPS has responded to an incident in the area of Parliament Square, and the Senior National Coordinator has declared this a terrorist incident.

And although we remain open minded to the motive, a full counter terrorism investigation is already underway - this is led by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command.

At this stage I will confirm what we know has happened, but I will not speculate.

I hope the Orange Idiot and his Republican supporters don't get all stupid about this.

 

 

[Carm_88 84,211]

How terrifying! My heart is breaking for all those people!  

[BlessaYourHeart 4,237]

7 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

Yes I saw that too.

http://news.met.police.uk/news/latest-on-westminster-incident-229843

I hope the Orange Idiot and his Republican supporters don't get all stupid about this.

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, Carm_88 said:

How terrifying! My heart is breaking for all those people!  

It's scary! Seems as though it came from nowhere! 

Yes let's hope it's treated with sensitivity and not used as a political agenda by Tango Trump 

[Carm_88 84,211]

Just now, BlessaYourHeart said:

 

It's scary! Seems as though it came from nowhere! 

Yes let's hope it's treated with sensitivity and not used as a political agenda by Tango Trump 

Agreed. That's not what anyone needs. 

[mango_fandango 34,778]

The satsuma with terrible hair has reportedly been told. No response as of yet.

Dad, aunt and uncle are all fine. Brother is home from school. His school isn't near Westminster, but still. Mum is a SAHM so she's fine. I'm in Exeter so I'm well away from all the goings-on.

[VelociRapture 100,742]

9 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

Yes I saw that too.

http://news.met.police.uk/news/latest-on-westminster-incident-229843

I hope the Orange Idiot and his Republican supporters don't get all stupid about this.

 

 

Don't hold your breath. I like you and don't want you to suffocate waiting for him to react maturely.

2 minutes ago, mango_fandango said:

The satsuma with terrible hair has reportedly been told. No response as of yet.

Dad, aunt and uncle are all fine. Brother is home from school. His school isn't near Westminster, but still. Mum is a SAHM so she's fine. I'm in Exeter so I'm well away from all the goings-on.

Glad to hear your family is ok! Stay safe!

----------

My thoughts are with those impacted and with the UK in general today. And to all our FJ posters and lurkers in the London area - please stay safe! 

[EmainMacha 4,442]

Woman and police officer confirmed dead. Sad day for London 

[sawasdee 13,515]

Many of my friends and ex colleagues are tour guides in central London, and guides in Parliament. Have heard from most - all OK. But this is very close to home to me.

I worked in London in the 70s, 80s and 90s at the height of the PIRA bombings, and was a bit too close to three, especially at the Tower of London. I am so proud of the quick reaction of the emergency services - police, ambulance, fire - and was very moved to see pictures of civilians helping the injured in the immediate aftermath of today's horror.

Am suddenly horribly homesick for the town of my birth. Thinking of all of those there, and especially FJers.

ETA I am waiting, with almost certainty, for either tRump or the NRA to say the policeman wouldn't have died if he'd had a gun......

Edited March 22, 2017 by sawasdee

[Palimpsest 78,524]

I didn't see this thread but I was looking at @EmainMacha's status updates.

I just heard my nephew is safe.  He's the only family member in London this week.  I don't have any friends who work close to Westminster so I expect they are all OK.

I hope all our London FJers and their families and friends are safe too.

[sawasdee 13,515]

This seems to have been a single individual on a mission. I hope and pray that there is no knee jerk reaction of ever more intrusive and repressive security measures, or of retaliation against Muslims in general. I also pray that as a nation, the UK keeps to the principle of a largely unarmed police force - something of which most police are in favour.

We didn't overreact in the days of the PIRA - the feeling was that to do so, was to give them a win. I hope and pray that as a nation, the Brits haven't changed that much.

[EmainMacha 4,442]

Police have just announced 4 people have died, including one attacker.

[2manyKidzzz 8,181]

2 minutes ago, EmainMacha said:

Police have just announced 4 people have died, including one attacker.

And the police officer. 20 injured. 

[sawasdee 13,515]

Shit. Those poor families - including that of the attacker, who probably knew nothing of his aims, if previous incidents are anything to go by.

[ScorpiousMalfoy 1,669]

So horrible. I feel so sorry for all affected. How evil do you have to be to commit someting like that? Absolutely disgusting! 

I'm sorry if it sounds egoistic or self centred - but I'm going to London on a trip on Easter and I start to feel nervous about it. 

[Gemini 2,918]

Sat watching the news now and hugging my girls a little tighter. 

Its been tweeted that Trump has spoke to May.  if that's true I'm furious, she should be dealing with the crisis here, not chumming up to that twat!

sorry if I sound a bit aggressive, My bio Dad commutes from Toulouse to London regularly so I'm a little on edge a waiting for news.  

[sawasdee 13,515]

 

Donald Trump Jr has had the insensitivity and gall - and the ignorance - to criticise London's Muslim Mayor, Saddiq Khan, for comments he made last year ( after a different attack) when he said in an interview that sadly, such incidents were part of living in a big city nowadays, and that it behooved us all to be vigilant, and to be supportive of police and security sevices. Eminently sensible, i thought. But young Donnie disagrees....

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/donald-trump-jr-criticizes-london-mayor-hours-attack-article-1.3005640

Sorry for the long run on sentence - I am almost incoherent with rage at this pratt!

[FundieFarmer 14,888]

I linked to this thread on social and asked for our London users to check in and let us know their status. Hoping all of our UK users stay safe during this time.

[kunoichi66 749]

3 minutes ago, sawasdee said:

 

Donald Trump Jr has had the insensitivity and gall - and the ignorance - to criticise London's Muslim Mayor, Saddiq Khan, for comments he made last year ( after a different attack) when he said in an interview that sadly, such incidents were part of living in a big city nowadays, and that it behooved us all to be vigilant, and to be supportive of police and security sevices. Eminently sensible, i thought. But young Donnie disagrees....

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/donald-trump-jr-criticizes-london-mayor-hours-attack-article-1.3005640

Sorry for the long run on sentence - I am almost incoherent with rage at this pratt!

GAH, what a moron.

 

[Palimpsest 78,524]

So, as of now, it looks like a single individual armed with a car and a knife.  

I think, if that information is true, I'm going to say - how mentally ill, influenced by hate speech, and down-trodden in every day life could that individual be.  

From what they are saying so far, the attack was crude and doesn't look like organised terror but they are still checking.

Unbelievably horrible though. 

22 minutes ago, ScorpiousMalfoy said:

I'm going to London on a trip on Easter and I start to feel nervous about it. 

I hope you enjoy it.  London is a really wonderful city to visit.  Feeling nervous is understandable but carrying on normal life is important too.  

I was never quite as close to a PIRA bomb as @sawasdee, although I fell flat on my face outside (the now defunct) Dickens and Jones at Oxford Circus when one of the Selfridges bombs went off.  It was loud.

Don't be held hostage by fear.  Live your life.

 

[47of74 52,608]

4 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

So, as of now, it looks like a single individual armed with a car and a knife.  

I think, if that information is true, I'm going to say - how mentally ill, influenced by hate speech, and down-trodden in every day life could that individual be.  

From what they are saying so far, the attack was crude and doesn't look like organised terror but they are still checking.

Unbelievably horrible though. 

I hope you enjoy it.  London is a really wonderful city to visit.  Feeling nervous is understandable but carrying on normal life is important too.  

I was never quite as close to a PIRA bomb as @sawasdee, although I fell flat on my face outside (the now defunct) Dickens and Jones at Oxford Circus when one of the Selfridges bombs went off.  It was loud.

Don't be held hostage by fear.  Live your life.

 

Yeah I remember being over in Italy in 2010 when they sent out the alert for the increased risk of attacks on Americans overseas.  We didn't let that stop us from going forward with our vacation and having a good time.  

That's the thing, terrorists want people to be afraid to live their lives or go ahead with their plans.  They're like Agent Orange - they would like it just as much as he would if we became fearful and suspicious of everyone.  Both they and Orange of Stupid would love nothing more than to have Americans afraid to do anything, to be so strung up with fear that it's impossible to enjoy any sort of life.

[EmainMacha 4,442]

The only answer to things like this is to go on as normally as possible. To quote Baz  Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom 'a life lived in fear is a life half lived'. The perpetrators want fear to stop us in our tracks. Well it didn't work in 2005 and it won't work today.

Edited to add - so essentially what @Palimpsestand @47of74 just said!

Edited March 22, 2017 by EmainMacha

[47of74 52,608]

2 minutes ago, EmainMacha said:

The only answer to things like this is to go on as normally as possible. To quote Baz  Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom 'a life lived in fear is a life half lived'. The perpetrators want fear to stop us in our tracks. Well it didn't work in 2005 and it won't work today.

Edited to add - so essentially what @47of74 just said!

My maternal Grandma's 90th birthday was the week after 9/11.  My mom was kind of wondering if I was going to come home for the party or if we should even still have the party.   I said I was coming home come hell or high water and that to change our plans would be giving a victory to bin Laden and his band of terrorists.

I figure what the hell, we all gotta go from something.  I'd rather go out living my life than spending it shut up in a room in fear.

 

[Gemini 2,918]

1 hour ago, ScorpiousMalfoy said:

So horrible. I feel so sorry for all affected. How evil do you have to be to commit someting like that? Absolutely disgusting! 

I'm sorry if it sounds egoistic or self centred - but I'm going to London on a trip on Easter and I start to feel nervous about it. 

You certainly don't sound self centred and it's only natural to feel nervous, but I agree with everything @Palimpsest and @47of74 said about living your life being important too.

I hope you have the most amazing time in London, It's a great city. Really vibrant and full of culture.

And if you have time my kids highly recommend  a visit to Sweetheart Cupcakes in Covent Garden  plaza! 

Edited March 22, 2017 by Gemini

[sawasdee 13,515]

@Palimpsest We were very close in either 74 or 75! The 74 Selfridge bomb was in the early evening - I was in my boyfriend's car near Duke St when the police stopped us - and we saw Selfridge's windows collapse as the bomb went off - the 75 Selfridge  was daytime, and I was in a pub down the road - the windows rattled, and people ducked for cover!

In July 74 I was working as a student guide with US high school kids in the Tower when that bomb went off - we had just left the sub crypt when it exploded, and many of us were knocked off our feet - but no one - thank god - hurt.

Working in tourism and in central London I was probably around more scares than most - but after the initial shock, people got on with their lives. Security is much tighter now, covert surveillance much more efficient and effective, and I think that London is probably as safe as anywhere else today.

Remember - you have much more chance of being in a car accident than a terrorist incident - the latter just gets so much publicity.

Don't let them cow you. Don't let them stop you living your life. Don't let them win, in even the smallest way.