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London attacks: 'multiple casualties' after incidents at London Bridge, Vauxhall and Borough Market – live London attacks: incidents at London Bridge and Borough Markets confirmed as terrorism – live
(35 minutes later)
12.58am BST
00:58
Metropolitan police confirm attacks as acts of terrorism
Emergency services responding to the incidents at London Bridge and Borough Market have confirmed that they were terrorist attacks.
Updated
at 12.58am BST
12.55am BST
00:55
The Metropolitan police have said: “ The incident at Vauxhall is a stabbing and is not connected to the incidents at London Bridge and Borough Market.”
12.45am BST
00:45
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, said:
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at 12.50am BST
12.43am BST
00:43
Guardian journalist Kate Lyons has more on the evacuations going on in the area around London Bridge. Guests at hotels in the vicinity of the attack have been evacuated. Zaven Jordan who is visiting from Australia was staying in Novotel Southwark and was woken by a fire alarm. When guests assembled outside the hotel he said police told everyone to run.
“The police didn’t just give directions, they were yelling ‘run!’,” he said. “When a fire alarm goes off you expect to assemble and then go back inside in a few minutes. We grabbed our passports just in case, but we weren’t really ready for this.”
He is walking the streets trying to find somewhere to stay. He says the hotel is not answering their phone, he had been turned away by another hotel and he is uncertain where in the city it is safe to go.
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at 12.51am BST
12.39am BST
00:39
Theresa May releases statement
Sky News have reported a statement from Theresa May: “Following updates from police and security officials, I can confirm that the terrible incident in London is being treated as a potential act of terrorism.
“This is a fast-moving investigation. I want to express my huge gratitude to the police and emergency services who are on the scene. Our thoughts are with those who are caught up in these dreadful events.”
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at 12.54am BST
12.37am BST
00:37
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has said he is in contact with the Metropolitan police commissioner.
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12.36am BST
00:36
Guardian journalist Chris Johnston is in the area of London Bridge, and says emergency services are continuing to descend on the area. He says a fire brigade command vehicle and operational support trucks and six fire engines just crossed Borough High Street along with two ambulances.
Meanwhile, life boats are coordinating with emergency services to evacuate members of the public on the Thames:
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at 12.38am BST
12.31am BST
00:31
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said on Twitter: “Brutal and shocking incidents reported in London. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. Thank you to the emergency services.”
12.31am BST
00:31
Guardian journalist Kate Lyons is continuing to speak to people near the scene at London Bridge:
Leon Radschinski, a bartender who was working tonight at Caravan Bankside, a restaurant near London Bridge said they stopped serving after they began hearing reports of an attack, before police ran into the restaurant ordering everyone to get out and run south.
Radschiski has made it out of the cordoned area and is trying to make it home on a Boris bike.
The streets around London Bridge, outside of the cordoned area, are full of people desperately trying to get home. The underground and trains are not running and taxis are hard to come by.
One woman, visiting London from Yorkshire for a wedding, was in tears at the shock of the evening and overwhelmed at trying to find a way to her accommodation in Crystal Palace. Strangers are stopping to help one another in the street – offering advice on the best routes back and looking up locations for those without phones or GPS.
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at 12.35am BST
12.27am BST
00:27
Guardian journalists at the scene are continuing to get eye-witness testimony of how the attack unfolded.
Olivia Doyle, 23, was travelling across London Bridge in a car with three family members, arriving to the sound of sirens.
She told the Guardian: “We arrived to see paramedics running to injured people. There were two people lying on the north end, on the east side of the bridge, just off the pavement. There were bits of what looked like car wreckage. We thought it was bits of bike or something. I saw four or five people lying on the ground, but everyone I saw was alive.
“It seemed like some kind of vehicle had knocked people down. They were two or three minutes walk apart, it obviously wasn’t an accident.
“I saw armed police officers shouting at people to stay in their cars, and pedestrians running past us off the bridge.
“We got out of our car and started running, then realised that we’d be better off in the car and we could be blocking the road, and the road was clear behind us except for a taxi that had been abandoned.”
12.16am BST12.16am BST
00:1600:16
Prime minister Theresa May, who has been campaigning in the general election, was returning to Downing Street to receive further briefings from security officials, No 10 has confirmed. The prime minister, Theresa May, who has been campaigning in the general election, was returning to Downing Street to receive further briefings from security officials, No 10 has confirmed.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said US president Donald Trump has been briefed on the incident by his national security team. The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said the US president, Donald Trump, has been briefed on the incident by his national security team.
The US president has recently tweeted:The US president has recently tweeted:
We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!
UpdatedUpdated
at 12.21am BST at 12.36am BST
12.12am BST
00:12
Summary of what we know so far
Police are responding to reports of at least three incidents across parts of London
The incidents are on London Bridge, Borough market and Vauxhall
The first report was of a van ploughing into pedestrians on London Bridge
Witnesses say the van was reported to have swerved onto the pavement and there have been unconfirmed reports of gunfire
A second incident is ongoing in Borough Market where there are reports of multiple stabbings
Police say they are responding to a third event at Vauxhall
Downing Street says the prime minister has been informed of a major incident
Police are urging people to stay away from the affected areas
12.07am BST
00:07
Police have established cordons around the scene at London Bridge. Police are continuing to urge members of the public to reach areas of safety.
11.58pm BST
23:58
The Metropolitan police are urging people in the areas of the incident in Vauxhall, London Bridge and Borough Market to get to safer areas away from the scenes.
11.56pm BST
23:56
Guardian journalist Kate Lyon has spoken to witnesses at the scene at London Bridge, who report stabbings have taken place:
Lara Al-Ostta was having drinks with a friend at the Old Thameside Inn underneath London Bridge when she said people came running into the pub and telling everyone to run away because “people are stabbing each other”.
Al-Ostta said she ended running up on to London Bridge – and she and her friend were told by the police to run away. While on the bridge Al-Ostta took video, seen by the Guardian, of at least three injured people on the bridge, being tended to by emergency services.
“I saw people moving, but we thought fuck this is a serious thing,” said Al-Ostta.
Stephen Tull, who is homeless, was under the bridge at the time of the attack when he heard a bang. He says he ran up on to the bridge to help and saw one man who jumped out of the van and began attacking people.
11.53pm BST
23:53
Reuters have posted footage from the police cordon at London Bridge.
11.50pm BST
23:50
The police say officers are also responding to an incident in Vauxhall.
11.46pm BST
23:46
Metropolitan police have confirmed reports of stabbings at Borough Market, where they say armed police have fired shots.
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11.44pm BST
23:44
Journalists at the scene at London Bridge have been removed from the area by armed police.
11.41pm BST
23:41
Theresa May is aware of the incidents going on in London tonight.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister is in contact with officials and is being regularly updated on the incident at London Bridge.”
11.34pm BST
23:34
There are already offers of help coming in for those around the area of the attack, with one person offering minicab rides: