This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Manchester Arena: Theresa May says police know identity of bomber who killed 22– latest
Manchester Arena: police arrest 23-year-old man in connection with bombing that killed 22 – latest
(35 minutes later)
11.39am BST
12.16pm BST
11:39
12:16
Nadia Khomami
Queen issues statement
A homeless man who rushed into the Manchester Arena to help victims of the attack has told of the moment a woman died in his arms after she was injured in the blast.
The Queen has spoken of her shock. In a statement, she also thanked the emergency services and expressed admiration for the response of people in Manchester.
Chris Parker, 33, was begging in the foyer of the venue when the bomb went off, killing 22 people and injuring another 59.
The whole nation has been shocked by the death and injury in Manchester last night of so many people, adults and children, who had just been enjoying a concert.
He told the Press Association: “Everyone was piling out, all happy and everything else. As people were coming out of the glass doors I heard a bang and within a split second I saw a white flash, then smoke and then I heard screaming.
I know I speak for everyone in expressing my deepest sympathy to all who have been affected by this dreadful event and especially to the families and friends of those who have died or were injured.
“It knocked me to the floor and then I got up and instead of running away my gut instinct was to run back and try and help.
I want to thank all the members of the emergency services who have responded with such professionalism and care.
“There was people lying on the floor everywhere.
And I would like to express my admiration for the way the people of Manchester have responded, with humanity and compassion, to this act of barbarity.
“I saw a little girl. I wrapped her in one of the merchandise T-shirts and I said, ‘Where is your mum and daddy?’ She said, ‘My dad is at work, my mum is up there.’”
A message from Her Majesty The Queen following the attack in Manchester yesterday. https://t.co/CuaaPmRM1D
Parker said he thought the girl’s mother had died from her injuries.
He also said he had tended to a woman in her 60s with serious leg and head injuries. “She passed away in my arms,” he said. “She was in her 60s and she had been with her family. I haven’t stopped crying. The most shocking part of it is that it was a kids’ concert.”
Parker has slept rough in Manchester for about a year, PA reports. Meanwhile, residents across the city have opened up their homes and offered help to those affected by the attack, using the hashtag #RoomForManchester on social media.
Updated
Updated
at 11.44am BST
at 12.20pm BST
11.38am BST
12.10pm BST
11:38
12:10
Manchester's Arndale Centre evacuated
First victim named
The Arndale Centre in Manchester has been evacuated after a security alert as the atmosphere in the city remains tense.
The first victim of the attack has been named as Georgina Callander, 18.
Arndale centre evacuated. #Manchester pic.twitter.com/J67MxlJw6e
Runshaw College, where Callander was a student, released a statement, saying: “It is with enormous sadness that it appears that one of the people who lost their lives in Monday’s Manchester attack was one of our students here at Runshaw College […]
Staff and shoppers have been evacuated from the Arndale shopping centre. pic.twitter.com/eEWPNDc92L
“Our deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers go out to all of Georgina’s friends, family and all of those affected by this loss.”
Updated
Updated
at 11.39am BST
at 12.12pm BST
11.34am BST
12.08pm BST
11:34
12:08
Harriet Sherwood
Peter Walker
Human Appeal, Britain’s leading Muslim charity, has launched an appeal to raise money for the victims of the Manchester attack and their families
Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, told Sky News that his children knew friends who had been at the concert.
Muslims for Manchester was launched on Tuesday morning by the charity, which is based in the city. Othman Moqbel, Human Appeal’s chief executive, said: “As a Muslim, as a Mancunian and as a father, I want the victims and their families of Monday night’s attack to know that my prayers, the prayers of everyone at Human Appeal and the prayers of Manchester’s Muslim community, are with them. Although the details are currently unclear, this appears to be a despicable and abhorrent attack targeting innocent members of our community.
While terrorist attacks had happened before, this was “of a different order”, Farron said:
“Manchester’s Muslim community stands united with everyone in the city … Once again my prayers and love go to the victims, their families and this great city.”
This a terrorist attack deliberately targeted at children having the time of their lives. It was cowardly, it was deliberate, it is beyond wicked.
Jonathan Arkush, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those caught up in the Manchester Arena attack at the Ariana Grande concert last night. This savage attack on young people will require a response, but we will not hand victory to the attacker by allowing ourselves to become divided. The response by people of all communities in Manchester, offering shelter and transport to each other, shows our society’s resilience, and that terrorism will not win.”
And that is why it is right that we should determine justice should be done, and we continue to stand up to those who wish to harm our society, to take away life, and to take away our liberty.
The attack was incomprehensible, said Gershon Silins, the rabbi for the Manchester Liberal Jewish Community.
It was important that people remain “utterly resolute and defiant”, and not change their way of life in response to the attack, he added.
“It doesn’t make sense to many of us that such an atrocity could be carried out at a concert attended by children and young teenagers. A place usually filled with joy and excitement. And as we wake up today to the news that dozens upon dozens of young lives have been prematurely lost and many more changed significantly, the horror of the situation is incomprehensible. For so many families, today is just the beginning of mourning for lives lost, or a new reality of family members irrevocably damaged.
Farron said the Lib Dems, Labour and Conservatives had been in touch over the suspension of the election campaign.
“But as the stories come in of the emergency service teams working tirelessly at the scene, of the local families and businesses opening their doors, we are reminded that it is precisely at times like these that our bond as a community is strengthened – not diminished. Today we stand side by side in the wake of this atrocity. In support of the bereaved and the injured. Today we all stand together.”
We are absolutely of the view that our national campaigns have been suspended today. What happens in the future, that’s something to be discussed.
12.06pm BST
12:06
Carmen Fishwick
The mother of a 19-year-old Manchester Metropolitan University student who was at the Ariana Grande concert describes hearing screaming and “total panic” during a phone conversation she had with him minutes after the attack. Her son, who wishes to remain anonymous, used his mobile phone to contact his mother soon after leaving the concert hall. He was seated high up in the stadium and says it was extremely difficult to exit due to people pushing from behind, crushing in the stairways and the crowd surging towards the exit doors.“My son and his friend rang seconds after they got out. People thought there were gunmen behind them, and they didn’t know which way to go. They were just kids trying to work it out. They didn’t have any help,” his mother said. She said her son asked for advice about where he should go because there was no support at the venue. Police were running the other way, he told her. She said she felt helpless as there was no information online.“I was terrified for him. They wanted to run to the Arndale Centre – which was the site of a bomb attack when I was a teenager – of course I knew this might be a bad idea, but they didn’t. They genuinely didn’t know. They are young, but there were much younger children there,” she said.She said although her son had water taken off him, his bags were not searched and security did not check what he was carrying.
Updated
Updated
at 11.41am BST
at 12.10pm BST
11.28am BST
12.03pm BST
11:28
12:03
The blood bank on Norfolk Street in Manchester city centre has had to start turning people away because it has had so many people come to donate.
Arndale centre reopened
Karen Hodgins, a nurse at the centre, said they had a queue of about 70 people earlier this morning and were asking people to make appointments online for another time, unless they have the blood group O negative.
Frances Perraudin
“Most people are not the blood group that we need, which is O negative, the universal blood type. It’s not rare but it can go to anybody,” she says.
The Arndale centre’s is being reopened after being evacuated as police confirm that a man was arrested in the shopping centre in a move currently thought to be unrelated to last night’s attack. Emma Dixon, who works in Yours Clothing in Manchester’s Andale centre, says the first she heard of the evacuation was the centre’s security staff walking quickly in one direction. Her and her colleagues tried to stay calm, but then they saw a crowd of customers screaming and running for the exit. “At that point we just ran. We were veryfrightened,” she says.Dixon parked three miles away at a colleague’s house before walking into work. “We get here, red faced, and then we have to leave again!”“I wasn’t frightened coming in at all,” she says. “I was apprehensive about what the atmosphere was going to be like, and I knew we wouldn’t be busy, but it was like ‘we’re coming in’.”
She urged people who were O negative to go to a blood bank, but said everybody who already had an appointment would be seen today.
The Arndale is being reopened now. Dixon parked 3 miles away and walked in to get to work. "We get in, red faced, then have to leave again!"
Waiting outside the centre, Adam Sharp, 25, said he had come along with his colleagues to “try and do my bit”. “I’ve registered before but have never donated,” he says. He’s not sure what blood group he is. Standing nearby is Jules Boyle, 24, and about 11 colleagues. She woke up this morning to the news of the bombing. “I’ve never given blood before so I thought it was an appropriate time,” she says.
12.02pm BST
“It’s pretty horrific and it’s quite eerie around here today, compared to the normal hustle and bustle,” says Boyle. It didn’t cross her mind not to come into work, she says. “You need to try and get on with your day and do your bit.”
12:02
This blood donor centre in town has had to turn people away and ask them to make appointments for a later date. pic.twitter.com/vdgDSihj6j
The BBC is postponing the Andrew Neil election interviews planned for this week while election campaigning has been suspended.
Following tragic events in Manchester, The Andrew Neil Interviews won't go ahead as planned whilst #GE2017 campaigning is suspended.
11.57am BST
11:57
11.57am BST
11:57
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has been giving his reaction to the Manchester attack, and said he had talked to Theresa May. He also spoke of the need to support the young people who were traumatised by the attack. When asked for his message to the families affected, Corbyn said:
I’m terribly sorry and terribly sad for you.
There can be nothing worse than losing a child in a situation like this.
We have to put our arms around them and support them, not just today but in all the very difficult days to come because a trauma like this doesn’t go in a day or two – it’s there with them for the rest of their lives.
We have to give them all the support we possibly can, and also make sure we live in a safe environment in the future and we live in safety together, but we do not allow communities to be divided by this kind of appalling, atrocious act of violence.
Updated
Updated
at 11.42am BST
at 12.02pm BST
11.25am BST
11.57am BST
11:25
11:57
Nadia Khomami
Manchester police have confirmed the arrest of a 23-year-old in connection with last night’s attack.
Katie Hopkins has been reported to police for a tweet in which she called for a “final solution” following the terror attack at Manchester Arena.
With regards to last night’s incident at the Manchester arena, we can confirm we have arrested a 23-year-old man in South Manchester.
Hopkins, a columnist for Mail Online and presenter on LBC radio, quickly deleted the tweet and posted an altered version after widespread condemnation for directly echoing the Nazi term for the Holocaust as part of a longer anti-Muslim tirade.
Another man was arrested in the Arndale Centre, but this is not currently believed to be connected to last night’s attack.
The tweet was directed at Good Morning Britain host Phillip Schofield, who walked across Westminster Bridge in “defiance” following the attack on parliament earlier this year.
A man has been arrested at the Arndale Centre – This is not currently believed to connected to last night’s attacks.
It read: “22 dead – number rising. Schofield. Don’t you even dare. Do not be part of the problem. We need a final solution. #Machester (sic)”.
11.53am BST
Critics have called for Hopkins to be fired and she has been reported to police.
11:53
The altered tweet was changed to “we need a true solution”, but Hopkins said she rewrote it because of a typo. “I stand by my tweet,” she said. “I find the typo disrespectful to the survivors in Manchester.”
First arrest
The Met said: “We can confirm that a complaint has been received by the Metropolitan Police Service on Tuesday 23 May in relation to a tweet published on the same day.
A 23-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the Manchester bomb attack, Greater Manchester police said.
“As is routine, the allegation will be reviewed and assessed by specialist officers.”
@MENnewsdesk Police have arrested a 23-year-old man in South Manchester in connection with #ManchesterAttack
Updated
Updated
at 11.31am BST
at 11.54am BST
11.23am BST
11:23
The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has urged people to show their support for Manchester by attending tonight’s vigil in the city centre.
Speaking after taking part, via video link, in the government’s emergency meeting,he said:
There is a need for the city, and the city region, to come together, so we are making arrangements for a vigil in the centre of Manchester this evening in Albert Square in front of the town hall.
It is important that we send out that clear message, that though we are grieving we our strong and we are together.
I would urge people to show their support by possibly attending the vigil tonight. The most important message we must all send together is that we are united and we will not let them win.
Burnham also paid tribute to the response of the city. He said:
“The idea that people just throw their doors open or make their car available to people, it tells you everything about the people of Greater Manchester. It is the best response because it is what the extremists don’t want.
“That’s what the people here are like. They will never beat us …
“In this darkest hour, every single person in Greater Manchester will be proud that people responded in that particular way. It is a case of return to business as usual as far as possible. We will not let these people win.
“We all feel an sense of abhorrence at the nature of this attack. I’m not alone in saying that my kids have been at that venue at that particular time of night. Everybody here has a similar experience. For individuals to go there and seek to terrorise those children and those young people and their families in that way is the most appalling evil act that I can imagine.”
And Burnham condemned “ill-informed” comments about those responsible. He said:
People should avoid some of the ill-informed comment on social media. Take the lead from what the police are saying here before people jump to any conclusions about this attack. For goodness sake, let’s not descend into a situation of mutual distrust between our communities. The individual who carried this out is an extremist and and doesn’t represent any of our communities and does not represent the people of Greater Manchester in any way, shape or form.
Updated
at 11.27am BST
11.12am BST
11:12
May says she will travel to Manchester later to meet the chief constable, the mayor and the emergency services.
The election campaign has been suspended, she says.
She says she will chair another Cobra meeting later today.
She says it is customary for leaders to condemn the attackers.
But the fact we have to say this again does not make this any less true, she says.
She says we should remember the countless acts of kindness that brought people together, the work of the emergency services and the messages of solidarity and hope from those who opened their homes to victims.
“These are the things that represent the spirit of Manchester. It will never be broken.”
She says there will be difficult days ahead. Let us remember those who died, and think of those who helped.
Our way of life will always prevail, she says.
That’s it. May’s statement is over.
Updated
at 11.14am BST
11.09am BST
11:09
May says if others are responsible for the attack, they will be brought to justice.
The police believe that attack was carried out by one person. But they need to find out if they were acting alone.
The police think they know the identity of the perpetrator. But the police are not at this point revealing their name.
She says doctors and medical staff have worked valiantly to attend to those injured.
More resources are being devoted to the police, she says.
She says the scene around Manchester Arena will be closed for some time.
Updated
at 11.10am BST
11.06am BST
11:06
May says the police were called to Manchester Arena at 10.33pm. A single terrorist detonated a device near the exit, at a time and place intended to cause maximum injuries.
All terrorist attacks are terrible, but this stands out for its cowardice, she says.
She says, in addition to the attacker, 22 people have died, and 59 people are being treated in hospital. Many have life-threatening injuries, she says.
Updated
at 11.09am BST
11.05am BST
11:05
Theresa May's statement
Theresa May is making her statement about the Manchester attack in Downing Street.
She says she has just chaired a Cobra meeting.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those affected.
The people of Manchester have fallen victim to a “callous terrorist attack”, she says.
It is the worst attack Manchester has suffered, and the worst to hit the north of England.
Updated
at 11.32am BST
11.01am BST
11:01
Jamie Grierson
Blood donor centres in Manchester have experienced a surge in would-be donors presenting themselves to offer their blood.
However, the centres are fully stocked.
Jane Green, the chief nurse at the Plymouth Donor Centre opposite the Manchester Royal Infirmary, said they had been overwhelmed by people arriving to donate blood, but were turning spontaneous arrivals away as the centre was fully stocked and had a fully booked day of pre-arranged appointments.
Updated
at 11.13am BST
10.55am BST
10:55
Burnham announces vigil in Manchester
The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, says a vigil will be held for the victims in Manchester tonight. “We will never be beaten,” he says.
He urges people not to jump to conclusions about the attacker. He condemns the attacker as an extremist who doesn’t represent any community.
Updated
at 10.59am BST
10.54am BST
10:54
Ewen MacAskill
The government is not planning to increase the threat level to “critical” in the aftermath of the Manchester attack.
The threat level has been at “severe”, the fourth highest ranking, since 2014. Moving it on to the fifth and highest level would only be done if the police and intelligence services feared another attack was imminent.
MI5, which has a regional office in the north-west of England, has been been working through the night with police.
Much of the focus of the investigation is on where the attacker, who was killed in the attack, obtained the ingredients for making a bomb. Details of how to make a bomb can be found on the internet, but a degree of training is usually needed to succeed in detonating it.
With the amount of CCTV footage available, the police could have been able to quickly establish the identity of the attacker.
Updated
at 10.57am BST
10.53am BST
10:53
Theresa May has spoken to President Trump about the attack, the White House has announced.
.@POTUS has spoken with U.K. Prime Minister @theresa_may to offer condolences and support on behalf of the US #manchesterattack
10.41am BST
10:41
The love and solidarity of Mancunians shone through in their immediate response to the attack on the arena, writes Owen Jones.
Yesterday, Manchester was one of the greatest cities on earth, and it remains so today. The warmth, the solidarity, the unique Manc humour, all of that will thrive as much as it ever did. This was the city that helped bequeath modern industrial civilisation; it is a hurricane of creativity and talent, like the music of Oasis and the Smiths, the art of Lowry, Corrie, the football, the athletes, the comedians, the suffragettes, the LGBT activists.
Updated
at 10.47am BST
10.33am BST
10:33
Manchester police has again urged the public to avoid the city centre while emergency services work at the scene of the attack.
Please avoid Manchester city centre as emergency services still working at the scene of last night’s incident at Manchester Arena
pic.twitter.com/9NaaVVQay3
Updated
at 10.36am BST
10.31am BST
10:31
Our flag has been lowered as a mark of respect for those affected by last night's terror attack. Our thoughts & prayers are with Manchester. pic.twitter.com/RM4d1cRvQI
10.29am BST
10:29
Channel 4 News has been speaking to AJ Singh, one of the Manchester taxi drivers who offered free rides to those caught up in the attack.
“Manchester, we’re glue. We stick together when it counts,” he said.
Taxi drivers, hotel workers and the emergency services have worked through the night to help those caught up in the Manchester attack pic.twitter.com/tElF2ekm41
