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| London attack: one dead in terror attack near Finsbury Park mosque – latest updates | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 8.28am BST | |
| 08:28 | |
| “There was no one else in the van,” Basu says. | |
| Updated | |
| at 8.29am BST | |
| 8.27am BST | |
| 08:27 | |
| Basu says the attack comes at a “challenging” time and the emergency services are stretched. He praises the way the community tackled the suspected attacker. | |
| The incident had all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack, Basu says. | |
| 8.25am BST | |
| 08:25 | |
| Driver arrested on suspicion of murder, Scotland Yard says | |
| Dep Asst Comm Neil Basu of the Metropolitan police, who is senior national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing, is giving a statement. | |
| He says it is too early to tell whether the man who died at the scene was killed in the attack. Eight others were taken to hospital. Two were treated at the scene. All of the victims were Muslim. | |
| The driver of the van has been arrested on suspicion of murder, Basu said. | |
| Updated | |
| at 8.31am BST | |
| 8.20am BST | |
| 08:20 | |
| Alice Ross | |
| The streets around the junction of Fonthill Road and Seven Sisters Road are sealed off by a police cordon, and there is a heavy media presence. | |
| Abdikadir Warfa, who was just around the corner and witnessed the immediate aftermath of the attack, said the vehicle used to plough through people near the Muslim Welfare House, said it appeared a white lorry with yellow markings was used. “I think it was rented,” he said. | |
| “Everyone was lying on the street shouting, crying ‘help me’. I saw a man trying to run and everyone was trying to stop him,” he added. Four or five men were restraining him. “He was shouting something but I couldn’t hear.” | |
| Several people pointed out that had the collision taken place minutes earlier it would have caused even more harm, as people were already dispersing after prayers. | |
| A 22-year-old man, who asked not to be named, said he heard tyres screaming and saw the lorry “stuck on the barriers” where it had apparently swerved towards people. “People started screaming, saying we need help, call police, call an ambulance.” | |
| He saw people lying on the pavement. “Their families were crying. A lady was crying and saying, my brother, my brother, he can’t breathe.” | |
| People flagged down a police van that was passing along Seven Sisters Road and the eyewitness described how people handed over the suspected attacker. He showed videos filmed by his friends showing injured people lying in the street, one receiving CPR, and the suspect, a tall white man with dark hair wearing a black T-shirt, being put into the police van. | |
| Updated | |
| at 8.22am BST | |
| 8.16am BST | |
| 08:16 | |
| Harriet Sherwood | |
| Staff Tell MAMA, a group that monitors hate crime against Muslims, were at the Muslim Welfare House mosque in Finsbury Park on Friday, informing the congregation about the need to report in anti-Muslim hatred and to maintain their safety during Ramadan. | |
| Members of the congregation in the two mosques in the area are mainly from North and West Africa. The mosque has previously been targeted for anti-Muslim hate and had white powder sent to it causing security concerns. | |
| Tell MAMA staff also informed members of the local congregation about the need to maintain vigilance during Ramadan when many Muslims wear clothing which identifies them as Muslims. Speaking about the safety of mosques, the Director of Tell MAMA, Iman Atta, said: | |
| “We have put out numerous safety leaflets to mosques to ensure vigilance so that congregations are safe. Ramadan is a time when Muslims are more visible and when there are larger congregations who attend late at night to pray after opening their fasts. Mosque safety needs to be stepped up and this includes entry and exit points.” | |
| 8.12am BST | |
| 08:12 | |
| Londoners are 'nothing short of heroic', says Rudd | |
| The home secretary, Amber Rudd, has defended the time it took for the authorities to declare this as a terrorist incident. | |
| Speaking to Sky News, she said: “We know that the police were on hand immediately. We know that they have treated it immediately as a suspected terrorist event. That is the normal procedure and we will see whether they confirm that later this morning.” | |
| She also paid tribute to the way Londoners had reacted to a series of recent incidents: | |
| Unfortunately we have again woken up to another terrible incident in London where a man has taken hold of a van and driven it into a group of innocent people in Finsbury Park. There is one fatal fatality that we know about and a number of casualties and the police are treating it as terrorist incident. Londoners have been hit with a series of attacks and have actually been nothing short of heroic. | |
| Rudd insisted that funds were available to help secure mosques. | |
| We will always make sure that everybody is protected. We have a places of worship fund which is there to protect places of worship like mosques and we will make sure that we do all we can to reduce these sort of attacks. We have made available £2.5m last summer, I recently announced who would be getting those additional funds, which included 12 mosques and I have reopened it recently to make sure that any additional place of worship that feels the need can apply for extra security. | |
| Asked whether the emergency services would be given extra funds, Rudd said: | |
| When we speak to emergency services during these series of attacks, we always ask them what additional support they. Actually they have generally confirmed to us that they do have sufficient resources because there is a kind of mutual aid that works of people supporting each other. It is working, but of course we will always keep it under review to ensure that our emergency services have all the support they need. | |
| Updated | |
| at 8.17am BST | |
| 7.56am BST | 7.56am BST |
| 07:56 | 07:56 |
| Witness heard driver saying 'I want to kill Muslims' | Witness heard driver saying 'I want to kill Muslims' |
| The driver of the white van that ploughed into pedestrians was pinned to the ground by onlookers after saying: “I want to kill Muslims,” a witness has said. | |
| The witness, who wanted to be identified as Abdulrahman, which is not his real name, said he and his friends had stopped to help an elderly man who was lying on the floor at around 12.20am on Monday. | |
| “In seconds this terrible thing happened,”’ he told the Press Association. “Literally within a minute, a van with speed turned to where we were and ran over the man who was laying on the floor and the people around him, around eight people or 10 people got injured, some of them seriously. Thank God I’m safe, but my friends got injured.” | |
| The van driver was detained by members of the public after the attack in Seven Sisters Road. | The van driver was detained by members of the public after the attack in Seven Sisters Road. |
| Abdulrahman said: | |
| I managed to get the driver of the van when he came out of his van. He wanted to run away and was saying, ‘I want to kill Muslims’. So he came back to the main road and I managed to get him to the ground and me and some other guys managed to hold him until the police arrived, for about 20 minutes I think, until the police arrived. | |
| People were very upset, people were shouting, people were saying, ‘where’s the police, where’s the ambulance?’ People were saying, ‘keep him on the ground’, people were asking questions, saying ‘why did you do this?’ People were laying down on the floor.” | |
| Abdulrahman claimed the driver said “kill me”, as he was holding his head on the ground. | |
| He added: “I said, ‘tell me why did you try driving to kill innocent people?’ When he went into the [police] van he made gestures, he was laughing. He deliberately did this. He caused this incident.” | He added: “I said, ‘tell me why did you try driving to kill innocent people?’ When he went into the [police] van he made gestures, he was laughing. He deliberately did this. He caused this incident.” |
| Abdulrahman said he believed the old man, who had been lying on the ground before the attack, had passed away, while some of his friends remain in hospital. | Abdulrahman said he believed the old man, who had been lying on the ground before the attack, had passed away, while some of his friends remain in hospital. |
| Earlier an eyewitness told BuzzFeed that driver shouted “I want to kill all Muslims.” | |
| Eyewitness tells @jamesrbuk man drove van at pedestrians outside London mosque, then shouted “Kill me, kill me, I want to kill all Muslims” pic.twitter.com/gSgTX05aSQ | Eyewitness tells @jamesrbuk man drove van at pedestrians outside London mosque, then shouted “Kill me, kill me, I want to kill all Muslims” pic.twitter.com/gSgTX05aSQ |
| Updated | |
| at 8.17am BST | |
| 7.41am BST | 7.41am BST |
| 07:41 | 07:41 |
| Pro-Islamic State channels are using reports of the incident in Finsbury Park to incite Muslims, according to groups which monitor jihadists. | Pro-Islamic State channels are using reports of the incident in Finsbury Park to incite Muslims, according to groups which monitor jihadists. |
| One pro-Isis post said “Oh Muslims you need to wake up the war starting on your own streets”. It also questioned why the police didn’t shoot dead the attacker. | One pro-Isis post said “Oh Muslims you need to wake up the war starting on your own streets”. It also questioned why the police didn’t shoot dead the attacker. |
| UPDATE Example of posts re Finsbury Park incident on pro-Islamic State Telegram channels following suggestions the driver is not a Muslim pic.twitter.com/oSBJ5T8Otl | UPDATE Example of posts re Finsbury Park incident on pro-Islamic State Telegram channels following suggestions the driver is not a Muslim pic.twitter.com/oSBJ5T8Otl |
| Pro-#ISIS Telegram Channels Use Reported Van Attack Outside #Finsbury Mosque to Incite Muslims https://t.co/0VAuvGVd2A | Pro-#ISIS Telegram Channels Use Reported Van Attack Outside #Finsbury Mosque to Incite Muslims https://t.co/0VAuvGVd2A |
| 7.39am BST | 7.39am BST |
| 07:39 | 07:39 |
| Muslim Welfare House appeals for calm | Muslim Welfare House appeals for calm |
| The Muslim Welfare House on Seven Sisters Road, which appeared to be targeted in the attack, has appealed for calm. | The Muslim Welfare House on Seven Sisters Road, which appeared to be targeted in the attack, has appealed for calm. |
| In a messages forwarded by Miqdaad Versi, assistant general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, it said: | In a messages forwarded by Miqdaad Versi, assistant general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, it said: |
| “We have worked very hard over decades to build a peaceful and tolerant community here in Finsbury Park and we totally condemn any act of hate that tries to driver our wonderful community apart. We would appeal for calm at this time ... All of our efforts should be towards getting justice for the victims and ensuring our community stays the diverse, tolerant and welcome place we know it to be.” | “We have worked very hard over decades to build a peaceful and tolerant community here in Finsbury Park and we totally condemn any act of hate that tries to driver our wonderful community apart. We would appeal for calm at this time ... All of our efforts should be towards getting justice for the victims and ensuring our community stays the diverse, tolerant and welcome place we know it to be.” |
| Statement by @Mwh_London on the terror attack on Muslim worshippers in the #FinsburyPark area outside Muslim Welfare House pic.twitter.com/vjkjHDRw1a | Statement by @Mwh_London on the terror attack on Muslim worshippers in the #FinsburyPark area outside Muslim Welfare House pic.twitter.com/vjkjHDRw1a |
| 7.29am BST | 7.29am BST |
| 07:29 | 07:29 |
| Witness Abdikadar Warfa said the van was driving at high speed down Seven Sisters Road and turned left down an alley. He said most of the victims were young, but an older man was among them. | |
| Speaking to the Press Association, he said: | |
| I saw a man underneath the van. He was bleeding. My friend said he had to lift the van. I was busy with a man who tried to escape. My friend said he said some words, but I didn’t hear it. | |
| They [people who were hit] were mostly young. They are very bad. I tried to stop him [the suspect], some people were hitting him but I said stop him and keep him until the police came. | |
| He was trying to run away but people overpowered him. He was fighting to run away. | |
| Witness Abdikadar Warfa told @PA people tending to a man who had collapsed were struck by a van #FinsburyPark pic.twitter.com/k51KRBkNKx | Witness Abdikadar Warfa told @PA people tending to a man who had collapsed were struck by a van #FinsburyPark pic.twitter.com/k51KRBkNKx |
| Updated | |
| at 8.19am BST | |
| 7.23am BST | 7.23am BST |
| 07:23 | 07:23 |
| Images of the van | Images of the van |
| Images are emerging of the van believed to be involved in the incident. | Images are emerging of the van believed to be involved in the incident. |
| 7.19am BST | 7.19am BST |
| 07:19 | 07:19 |
| Matthew Weaver | Matthew Weaver |
| Ratip Alsulaimen said he saw up to 10 people being taken away in ambulances. Speaking to PA he said: | Ratip Alsulaimen said he saw up to 10 people being taken away in ambulances. Speaking to PA he said: |
| “I was sitting in the coffee shop just a couple of minutes away. | “I was sitting in the coffee shop just a couple of minutes away. |
| “One of our friends was reporting what was going on in the front of the mosque. | “One of our friends was reporting what was going on in the front of the mosque. |
| “He said the car was smashing into the people getting out of the mosque, so we just ran away, all of us, and came to see what’s happening. | “He said the car was smashing into the people getting out of the mosque, so we just ran away, all of us, and came to see what’s happening. |
| “When I came I saw ambulance people taking people to the ambulance. I think between eight to 10 people were taken away. | “When I came I saw ambulance people taking people to the ambulance. I think between eight to 10 people were taken away. |
| “There was an old man - about 60 years old - I don’t know if he’s alive or dead. There were other people, mid-30 to 40. There are men and women. | “There was an old man - about 60 years old - I don’t know if he’s alive or dead. There were other people, mid-30 to 40. There are men and women. |
| “We are shocked when we heard the news because we were just having a good time. We were praying for peace and for Grenfell Tower. When we heard this we were actually shocked.” | “We are shocked when we heard the news because we were just having a good time. We were praying for peace and for Grenfell Tower. When we heard this we were actually shocked.” |
| Witness Ratip Alsulaimen told @Pa what he saw at #FinsburyPark pic.twitter.com/iR49oGC5IS | Witness Ratip Alsulaimen told @Pa what he saw at #FinsburyPark pic.twitter.com/iR49oGC5IS |
| 6.56am BST | 6.56am BST |
| 06:56 | 06:56 |
| Morning summary | Morning summary |
| A van has driven into a crowd of worshippers after they left a mosque in north London, killing one man and injuring eight other people in what police described as a “major incident”. | A van has driven into a crowd of worshippers after they left a mosque in north London, killing one man and injuring eight other people in what police described as a “major incident”. |
| The counter-terrorism unit is investigating the crime, which took place on a street crowded by worshippers following Ramadan prayers. | The counter-terrorism unit is investigating the crime, which took place on a street crowded by worshippers following Ramadan prayers. |
| Prime minister Theresa May said police were treating the incident in Finsbury Park “as a potential terrorist attack”. She said she would chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee the later on Monday morning. | Prime minister Theresa May said police were treating the incident in Finsbury Park “as a potential terrorist attack”. She said she would chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee the later on Monday morning. |
| Jeremy Corbyn, whose constituency includes Finsbury Park, has said he was “totally shocked”. | Jeremy Corbyn, whose constituency includes Finsbury Park, has said he was “totally shocked”. |
| Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has condemned the incident as a “horrific terrorist attack” on “innocent Londoners” and said police have been deployed extra police to reassure communities, especially those observing Ramadan. | Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has condemned the incident as a “horrific terrorist attack” on “innocent Londoners” and said police have been deployed extra police to reassure communities, especially those observing Ramadan. |
| London ambulance service said the eight injured were taken to three hospitals, and an unknown number of others were treated at the scene for minor injuries. | London ambulance service said the eight injured were taken to three hospitals, and an unknown number of others were treated at the scene for minor injuries. |
| The van driver – a 48-year-old man – was arrested at the scene by the police after being detained by passersby. He has been taken to hospital as a precaution and will also undergo a mental health assessment. | The van driver – a 48-year-old man – was arrested at the scene by the police after being detained by passersby. He has been taken to hospital as a precaution and will also undergo a mental health assessment. |
| Police said they first responded to reports of a traffic collision at about 12.20am on Monday. | Police said they first responded to reports of a traffic collision at about 12.20am on Monday. |
| The white van hit people outside the Muslim Welfare House on Seven Sisters Road. Two witnesses reported seeing three people leave the van, however, police said no other suspects have been identified or reported to police. | The white van hit people outside the Muslim Welfare House on Seven Sisters Road. Two witnesses reported seeing three people leave the van, however, police said no other suspects have been identified or reported to police. |
| The Muslim Council of Great Britain said the attack was ‘motivated by Islamophobia’. The Muslim Welfare House has called for calm. | The Muslim Council of Great Britain said the attack was ‘motivated by Islamophobia’. The Muslim Welfare House has called for calm. |
| Diane Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, which borders Finsbury Park, has called for a review of security for all mosques. | Diane Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, which borders Finsbury Park, has called for a review of security for all mosques. |
| 6.51am BST | 6.51am BST |
| 06:51 | 06:51 |
| Police reiterate: no other suspects. | Police reiterate: no other suspects. |
| Re #SevenSisters Rd #Finsburypark incident - At this early stage there are no other suspects, however the investigation continues. | Re #SevenSisters Rd #Finsburypark incident - At this early stage there are no other suspects, however the investigation continues. |