Browse content similar to 22/03/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight at Ten, Westminster under attack - four people are dead, | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
including a police officer, and at least 20 people injured. | :00:08. | :00:15. | |
The chaos unfolded early this afternoon, | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
when a man drove into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing two | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
And then I heard a big sort of crunch, it sounded like a car | :00:25. | :00:32. | |
crash, almost like the crunch of a wheel on a kerb. | :00:33. | :00:34. | |
Then I saw the vehicle mount the kerb and it was coming | :00:35. | :00:37. | |
so quickly and I saw some people being hit in front of me. | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
On the other side of the road, there was a body and when I looked | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
further up there was another body and when I looked over | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
the side of the bridge, there appeared to be a body | :00:49. | :00:50. | |
After crashing the car, he forced his way into the precincts | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
of Parliament, and stabbed a police officer, who later died. | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
The attacker was then shot dead by other officers | :01:02. | :01:03. | |
This is a day we'd planned for, but hoped would never happen. | :01:04. | :01:10. | |
We will continue to do all we can to protect the people of London. | :01:11. | :01:17. | |
Tonight, the police investigation continues as the prime minister has | :01:18. | :01:20. | |
been chairing a meeting of the cabinet's | :01:21. | :01:21. | |
We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never | :01:22. | :01:30. | |
allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart. | :01:31. | :01:39. | |
We'll have the latest on the people injured in today's attack, | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
and we'll have the latest on the police investigation | :01:44. | :01:45. | |
And we will have the latest analysis on the news Channel, including how | :01:46. | :02:01. | |
tomorrow's papers are reporting the attack. | :02:02. | :02:21. | |
Good evening from Westminster, where a state of emergency | :02:22. | :02:23. | |
was imposed this afternoon following a terror incident | :02:24. | :02:26. | |
which led to at least four deaths and more than 20 people injured. | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
Those killed include a police officer and the man | :02:31. | :02:32. | |
It's the worst attack in London since the July 7th bombings of 2005. | :02:33. | :02:40. | |
This was the sequence of events which started | :02:41. | :02:42. | |
The man drove a car across Westminster Bridge, | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
mounting the pavement, hitting many pedestrians, | :02:49. | :02:50. | |
killing two people and causing some very serious injuries before | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
crashing into railings at the Houses of Parliament. | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
He then ran through the gates of the Palace of Westminster armed | :02:59. | :03:01. | |
with a knife and stabbed a police officer, who wasn't armed and later | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
died despite the efforts of a team of emergency workers and an MP | :03:06. | :03:08. | |
The attacker was shot dead by police who rushed to the scene | :03:09. | :03:15. | |
The Houses of Parliament and the surrounding area were placed | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
into immediate lockdown as police conducted a thorough search. | :03:21. | :03:22. | |
Among those held inside for several hours was our political | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
editor Laura Kuenssberg, and we start tonight | :03:27. | :03:28. | |
Run. Go. Move. The sound of gunfire replacing the bells of Big Ben. Go! | :03:29. | :03:59. | |
Go, move yourselves, go! The centre of our government, normally a safe | :04:00. | :04:10. | |
place. Not today. Members of the public, politicians, the hundreds of | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
staff for whom this is work. In politics, for some a home from home. | :04:16. | :04:23. | |
Sprinting for safety outside. The SWAT team turned up with paramedics, | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
and they asked us to abandon our vehicle and just walk away. There | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
was a body and when I looked further up, there was another body. And when | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
I looked over the side of the bridge, there appeared to be a body | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
in the water as well. Sick. It is sick to witness these things. My | :04:42. | :04:50. | |
hands are shaking. A car, a weapon, ploughing through members of the | :04:51. | :04:53. | |
public on Westminster Bridge, normally a tourist spot. Today a | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
site of danger. Two killed, many others seriously hurt. And then the | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
car, only a couple of hundred yards away, careered around to smash into | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
Parliament's gates. A policeman gave his life to stop the attacker | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
nothing further. The Prime Minister had been meeting Cabinet colleagues | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
in Parliament. But was hurried out and then through Westminster's | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
backstreets to safety. And inside Parliament, lockdown. I, with | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
hundreds of others, bundled back from the front entrance, waiting | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
through fear and confusion. A police officer told me someone was killed | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
just yards outside. We heard three or four shots which sounded like | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
shots, and then everyone turned and ran back through here and then... | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
Well, we know as much as we know from now on in. But generally, a lot | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
of people were walking through that area and most people heard three or | :05:58. | :06:05. | |
four shots. Did you hear anything? All this noise at the front of | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
portcullis house ten minutes ago. Lots of police and security guards | :06:11. | :06:13. | |
shouting, people running past the building my general sense of panic. | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
Everyone was ordered to the back of the building until it was safe to do | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
otherwise. There are at least a couple of hundred people here inside | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
Portcullis House. This is the heart of where Westminster does its | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
business and we are all part of a lockdown after what has happened | :06:33. | :06:35. | |
outside. Police officers told me one man was shot at the front. A few MPs | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
have told me they have heard three or four gunshots as they were on | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
their way to vote. This is obviously a place that is tightly guarded at | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
all times, but there is a sense of shock that finally, it appears that | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
something so serious has happened right here in the heart of | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
Westminster. Then, in the chamber that sat on through all sorts of | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
situations, wars and peace, which interrupted. Order! I am now going | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
to suspend the sitting of the House. This House is now suspended, but | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
please wait here. Because of this place was the focus of danger. MPs | :07:13. | :07:18. | |
and staff watched from their windows as the SWAT team arrived. Is this | :07:19. | :07:28. | |
the attacker? A first aid kit thrown in to help, emergency services | :07:29. | :07:41. | |
trying to save him and his victims. While inside, those of us who came | :07:42. | :07:44. | |
here to work today, or to visit or to be part of this place, waited | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
tensely, corridors full of staff who couldn't leave and didn't want to | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
stay, caught up in an attack which stopped the business of democracy. | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
It is just after five o'clock. We still don't really know what is | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
going on. This group of students was brought here just for the day to see | :08:02. | :08:04. | |
how Parliament works. Little did they know what kind of situation | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
would unfold. Frankly, it's still very hard to believe it has really | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
happened here today. Tonight, the meaning of this attempt seems clear. | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
The Prime Minister obviously angered and saddened, but resolute. These | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
streets of Westminster, home to the world's oldest parliament, are | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
ingrained with a spirit of freedom that echoes in some of the furthest | :08:30. | :08:36. | |
corners of the globe. And the values our parliament represents - | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of law - command the | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
admiration and respect of free people everywhere. That is why it is | :08:45. | :08:51. | |
a target for those who reject those values. But let me make it clear to | :08:52. | :08:59. | |
day, as I have had cause to do before, any attempt to defeat those | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
values to violence and terror is doomed to failure. The human cost is | :09:04. | :09:12. | |
only just becoming clear. We have declared this as a terrorist | :09:13. | :09:15. | |
incident and the counterterrorism command are carrying out an | :09:16. | :09:18. | |
investigation into the events today. The attack started when a car was | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
driven over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injuring a number of | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
members of the public, also including three police officers on | :09:27. | :09:33. | |
their way back from a commendation ceremony. The car crashed into the | :09:34. | :09:35. | |
front of Parliament and at least one man armed with a knife continued the | :09:36. | :09:38. | |
attack and tried to enter parliament. Sadly, I can confirm | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
that four people have now died. That includes the police officer who was | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
protecting Parliament, and one man we believe to be the attacker, who | :09:49. | :09:51. | |
was shot by a police firearms officers. The officer's family have | :09:52. | :09:58. | |
been made aware. At least 20 people have been injured. My thoughts are | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
with all those who have been affected by today's attack and is a | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
service, we have lost one of our own as he acted to protect the public | :10:07. | :10:09. | |
and his colleagues. This is a day we had planned for, but we hoped would | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
never happen. Sadly, it's now a reality. We will continue to do all | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
we can to protect the people of London. An attack that in theory, | :10:18. | :10:24. | |
many expected. But the truth of an event like this in practice is a | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
shock in our Parliament, a shock in our country. Whatever the motive, an | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
effort to stop our democracy in its tracks, a new, or four page of | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
history in a place where every corner tells of our shared past. | :10:41. | :10:43. | |
Laura Kuenssberg, BBC News, Westminster. | :10:44. | :10:45. | |
As Laura explained, the attack started when a man drove his vehicle | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
at speed across Westminster Bridge towards the Houses of Parliament, | :10:52. | :10:53. | |
hitting many pedestrians in his path, two of whom died, | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
and several others suffered catastrophic injuries. | :10:59. | :10:59. | |
They included some police officers who'd been | :11:00. | :11:01. | |
Our chief correspondent Gavin Hewitt reports in more detail on the attack | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
Early afternoon with the traffic flowing over Westminster Bridge. | :11:07. | :11:15. | |
To the right, a grey Hyundai starts crossing the bridge and then | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
Others are knocked to the ground and under traffic as the vehicle | :11:19. | :11:28. | |
Left behind on the bridge, a group of horrified visitors. | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
On the ground, about 20 injured people, some | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
lying on the pavement, many bleeding, | :11:40. | :11:40. | |
Some of the injuries were described as catastrophic. | :11:41. | :11:48. | |
A big sort of crunch, sounded like a car crash | :11:49. | :11:50. | |
but like the crunch of a wheel on a kerb. | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
I saw the vehicle mount the kerb and it was coming out so quickly | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
and I saw some people being hit in front of me, I jumped to | :11:59. | :12:01. | |
I think one of the guys had been hit, but fortunately | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
And then looked around me in shock because I could see bodies, | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
Some people trying to escape the vehicle ended up in the road, | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
We heard what sounded like metal on metal, | :12:14. | :12:19. | |
But then we looked outside and I saw one person down, then another, | :12:20. | :12:28. | |
and I saw five people in all down on the tarmac and on the pavement | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
and then I understood that it must have been deliberate. | :12:33. | :12:34. | |
There were moments when the injured were comforted by others | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
Shortly after, paramedics from nearby St Thomas' Hospital arrived. | :12:38. | :12:45. | |
The woman who jumped into the Thames was rescued, | :12:46. | :12:47. | |
Many on the bridge had severe injuries, and two | :12:48. | :12:53. | |
The police believe there was only one attacker involved here, | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
but their task over the next 24 or 36 hours will be to trace every | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
link to that individual and to satisfy themselves | :13:05. | :13:06. | |
MPs, peers and parliamentary staff have been unanimous in their praise | :13:07. | :13:17. | |
of the police and emergency services for their swift response | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
to the events as they unfolded this afternoon. | :13:22. | :13:23. | |
Dozens of MPs were held in the House of Commons for more than two hours | :13:24. | :13:26. | |
Our deputy political editor John Pienaar reports | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
A brutal attack aimed at the heart of Britain's national life, on a | :13:30. | :13:46. | |
peaceful spring afternoon in the capital, a potential danger so often | :13:47. | :13:49. | |
discussed here at Westminster became suddenly horribly real. Time for a | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
statement to MPs unlike any they had heard before. It seems that a police | :13:55. | :14:02. | |
officer has been stabbed, that the alleged assailant was shot by armed | :14:03. | :14:11. | |
police. An air ambulance is currently attending the scene. At a | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
time like this, although there has been no time quite like this, an | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
attempt to spread fear and wreck notions of normality drew a familiar | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
response, only now the defensive dish values were delivered with | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
studied calm to an audience absorbing something shocking. The | :14:31. | :14:33. | |
British people will be united in working together to defeat those who | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
would harm our shared values, values of democracy, tolerance and the rule | :14:39. | :14:45. | |
of law. Values symbolised by the Houses of Parliament, values that | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
will never be destroyed. The lockdown ended. Those who had been | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
penned in streamed away, and there were forceful appeals for people to | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
resist the temptation to give in to hate, to unite, not split apart. My | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
message to those who want to harm us and destroy our way of life is, you | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
won't succeed. You would divide us. We will not be cut by terrorists. | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
Parliament will sit tomorrow. The country will go about its business | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
tomorrow. Terrorists tried to strike fear in people's hearts. They tried | :15:19. | :15:27. | |
to divide communities. Tonight, the Labour leader emphasised the scale | :15:28. | :15:29. | |
of the security challenge. It is everybody that must be kept safe, | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
everybody, whether they are in Parliament or outside Parliament. | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
This was an attack on people going about their normal day-to-day | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
business. And for even hardened politicians, and emotionally tiring | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
day. Just so awful for the people who died and their families and | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
friends. It is so sick. So finally, here at the heart of government, | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
first hand experience of a lethal danger that will not be easily | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
disarmed, not by policing, not by any peace initiative. For | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
politicians and people, it's a test of nerve and resolve, a test that | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
will be long-lasting and far from easy to pass. John Pienaar, BBC | :16:09. | :16:10. | |
News, Westminster. Scotland Yard gave details of its | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
early investigation this evening. In a moment, we'll speak to our home | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford, at New Scotland | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
Yard, for the latest. We expect a new police statement in | :16:24. | :16:30. | |
the next few minutes but we will wait to see if that happens. | :16:31. | :16:32. | |
But first, at least 20 people were injured in today's attack. | :16:33. | :16:34. | |
The London Ambulance Service reported some | :16:35. | :16:36. | |
Our correspondent Sophie Hutchinson is there. | :16:37. | :16:42. | |
She is at Saint Thomases hospital just across the river from | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
Parliament. Can you tell us what the authorities are saying about the | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
condition of some of the people brought in today? This hospital has | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
been right at the centre of things today, as you were saying, it is | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
right opposite the Houses of Parliament, it is linked to it by | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
Westminster Bridge were some of those terrible injuries, some of | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
those catastrophic injuries took place today and staff rushed out of | :17:08. | :17:12. | |
this hospital today to try to help those who were injured on the | :17:13. | :17:20. | |
Bridge. Two people remain in a stable condition at Saint Thomases | :17:21. | :17:23. | |
hospital and another eight were taken to Kings Hospital in | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
south-east London. It's a major trauma centre used to dealing with | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
major injuries from, for example, cars, road traffic incidents and | :17:33. | :17:35. | |
that kind of thing. We know of those eight people six are in a stable | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
condition but two people remained critically ill tonight. Sophie, | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
thank you very much for now. If there is any more development there | :17:46. | :17:48. | |
we will come back to you straightaway. Let's joined Daniel | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
Sandford at new Scotland Yard where we expect a new statement in the | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
next few minutes. Bring us up-to-date on what we know so far. | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
Tonight, as you know, all of Westminster is cordoned off by the | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
police, Whitehall is shut, Westminster Square is closed. | :18:07. | :18:09. | |
Westminster Bridge, which is just 100 metres from the new police | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
headquarters over there is a crime scene, as is the interior of the | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
Palace of Westminster. The traffic on Westminster Bridge is frozen in | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
time. It just hasn't moved since the moment that the carnage began and | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
police officers are poring over the bridge looking for evidence, as they | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
are inside the Palace of Westminster it's self. The key thing is that | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
evidence needs to be gathered, even though police still believe the | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
attacker acted alone. They need to know what happened, they need to | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
know what he did, because from their on they can work out if he was | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
acting alone, not just alone in the vehicle, but actually acting alone. | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
We are expecting an updated very soon from Mark Rowley, the Acting | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
Deputy Commissioner here at new Scotland Yard, the National | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
coordinator for anti-terrorism, and he will say the focus of the inquiry | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
is international terrorism, I understand, and that is of course | :19:07. | :19:12. | |
Islamist inspired, Violet Jihadist inspired -- violent. We talk a | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
little bit about the shape of this inquiry in the early stages and the | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
efforts being made to identify who was responsible and whether there | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
was any wider network, as you say. That is the absolute key for them. | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
Obviously it's bad enough that a man has driven right through the heart | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
of Westminster, killed one of Scotland Yard's on officers and had | :19:38. | :19:41. | |
to be shot dead in the Palace of Westminster. That is a serious | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
matter for Scotland Yard. But they need to know whether this was a man | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
who was inspired, as they believe, by this Jihadist ideology, or | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
whether he is part of a network. He needs to have bought a car, he needs | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
to have had some kind of support network working with him and that is | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
going to be the focus of the investigation. At this stage there | :20:05. | :20:07. | |
is not expected to be a trial. He is believed to be the only suspect but | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
that doesn't mean a wider investigation won't throw up other | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
suspects, and that will be the absolute focus of this | :20:17. | :20:19. | |
investigation. I can't emphasise how important this is for new Scotland | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
Yard. Over the death toll is thankfully lower than it has been in | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
previous attacks on London, the key thing is for them to try and work | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
out who might have been involved behind-the-scenes in this attack on | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
the Palace of Westminster. Daniel, thanks for now and thank you | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
to Sophie. Either way, Daniel, if there major developments from the | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
police at new Scotland Yard tonight we will come back to you right away. | :20:49. | :20:50. | |
In the meantime. The Prime Minister was in Parliament | :20:51. | :20:52. | |
when the attack happened, and was immediately taken to safety | :20:53. | :20:55. | |
by her police protection team. Earlier this evening, Theresa May | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
did chair a meeting of Cobra, the cabinet committee that deals | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
with emergencies, as the attacker's identity was being examined, | :21:04. | :21:14. | |
as Daniel was telling us, and questions were asked about how | :21:15. | :21:17. | |
someone managed to penetrate parliament's enhanced security | :21:18. | :21:19. | |
system carrying a weapon. Our security correspondent | :21:20. | :21:21. | |
Gordon Corera has this assessment of the attacker | :21:22. | :21:22. | |
and the investigation. The attacker shot by police lies | :21:23. | :21:24. | |
on a stretcher, then still alive. His weapon, a large | :21:25. | :21:27. | |
knife, apparently Now the hunt is on to identify the | :21:28. | :21:28. | |
man and understand what lay behind Who was he and how | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
did he get so close? Other clues for investigators | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
will include the car that was used so | :21:38. | :21:39. | |
brutally as a weapon. Armed police have regularly carried | :21:40. | :21:41. | |
out exercises like this one to secure Parliament and | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
the area around it. The Met responded in line | :21:48. | :21:50. | |
with our plans for a marauding That response included | :21:51. | :21:58. | |
uniformed and specialist We now, of course, | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
have an ongoing operation and whilst we currently believe | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
there was only one attacker I'm sure people will understand | :22:08. | :22:10. | |
we are taking every searching the area as thoroughly | :22:11. | :22:13. | |
and exhaustively as possible. In recent years security | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
in Parliament has been tightened after intruders | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
managed to get inside. Cameras, bollards, | :22:23. | :22:24. | |
armed guards and x-ray Today and attacker did | :22:25. | :22:25. | |
breach the initial perimeter but police | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
dealt with him quickly. The security services say that 13 | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
attacks have been stopped MI5 and the police have certainly | :22:35. | :22:37. | |
improved their ability to But, we've also seen those planning | :22:38. | :22:43. | |
attacks switch to less sophisticated techniques which can be harder for | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
the intelligence agencies to spot. A year ago exactly saw an attack | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
on Brussels airport and the metro. That was more | :22:56. | :23:03. | |
sophisticated than what we saw in Westminster today, | :23:04. | :23:04. | |
including the use of explosives. Last weekend Paris's Orly | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
airport showed how sometimes lone individuals are now | :23:10. | :23:18. | |
moving towards more low-tech means. Recent attacks in | :23:19. | :23:25. | |
Berlin and Nice showed the carnage a vehicle could inflict on innocent | :23:26. | :23:34. | |
people, as happened today on In many recent cases | :23:35. | :23:36. | |
attackers have been inspired by so-called Islamic state, | :23:37. | :23:43. | |
although not necessarily in direct Well, it's very hard to prevent | :23:44. | :23:45. | |
an attack, if you like, a low-tech attack like this | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
from happening once an individual is If you haven't got | :23:50. | :23:51. | |
the intelligence to know it is happening it's very, | :23:52. | :23:54. | |
very hard to prevent lives from being lost once the attack | :23:55. | :23:57. | |
actually takes place. A wide-reaching and urgent | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
investigation into this incident is The attacker may be dead | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
but the priority will be finding out if he worked alone and | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
if this threat has really passed. As we heard earlier Laura | :24:13. | :24:26. | |
Kuenssberg, our political editor, was held in one of the Parliamentary | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
buildings for several hours. Laura joins us now to reflect on a truly | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
shocking day at Westminster, despite the fact that the security levels | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
have been very high for some time. They have and it is notable the | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
security levels have not been raised by the government tonight. Just | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
eight hours ago this felt like a normal Westminster Wednesday. There | :24:50. | :24:52. | |
had been a rowdy Prime Minister's Questions session and all of a | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
sudden a commotion across the road, shouting, the sound of gunshots, the | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
sound of sirens, helicopters overhead, and then the realisation | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
that something extremely serious and potentially with fatal consequences | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
for members of the public or politicians was taking place. I | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
can't emphasise enough how much security is part of this place. On a | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
normal working day you might walk past armed police may be on a dozen | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
occasions, perhaps more. So the sense of shock that finally | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
something like this has taken place, here of all places, is profound. And | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
you know the attacker got as far as a few yards really from where the | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
Prime Minister's convoy goes in and out, a part of Westminster behind | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
the security cordon where senior politicians, staff, of course, and | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
members of the public who are allowed to go in for a visit our | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
wandering around freely. I think the target could hardly therefore been | :25:54. | :25:56. | |
more audacious and more shocking and I think we could see from the Prime | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
Minister's face how angry and how sad and she was but also determined | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
that what is today a place of danger what, will tomorrow be the home of | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
democracy, with MPs and the House of Lords coming to work as normal. We | :26:12. | :26:18. | |
will talk later. We will go to new Scotland Yard where the assistant | :26:19. | :26:21. | |
Deputy Commissioner Mark Rowley is talking. Today in Westminster we saw | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
tragic events unfold and our thoughts are with those who lost | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
loved ones, those who were injured and one of those affected by this | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
attack. One of those who died today was a police officer, PC Keith | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
Palmer, a member of our Parliamentary of diplomatic | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
protection command. Keith, aged 48, had 15 years service and was a | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
husband and father. He was someone who left for work today expecting to | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
return home at the end of his shift and he had every right to expect | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
that would happen. I can also now confirmed there are three members of | :26:57. | :26:58. | |
the public who have lost their lives in the attack. Specially trained | :26:59. | :27:05. | |
family liaison officers have been deployed to support them. And as I | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
confirmed earlier the suspected attacker was shot dead by unarmed | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
officer. Now in total we have five people who died today. I will not | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
comment at this stage on the identity of the attacker but are | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
working assumption is he was inspired by international terrorism. | :27:24. | :27:31. | |
I should also state at this stage we believe 40 people have been injured, | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
including several with serious injuries, including three police | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
officers, two of whom are in a serious condition. Our investigation | :27:41. | :27:43. | |
continues and is moving at a very fast-paced this evening and we will | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
be working throughout the night. We have hundreds of officers on this | :27:48. | :27:50. | |
investigation and they are focusing on the suspect's motivation, | :27:51. | :27:57. | |
preparation his associates. We are forensically examining a complicated | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
crime scene that covers a wide area and as with all investigations of | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
this nature it will take us some time to work through the painstaking | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
work necessary to gather all of the relevant evidence. Only then will | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
the full picture be known. Officers are taking statements from the | :28:14. | :28:15. | |
hundreds of people who were nearby as today's attack unfolded and we | :28:16. | :28:21. | |
are seizing and examining CCTV. I can also report that the lockdown of | :28:22. | :28:25. | |
Parliament has concluded and we are working to reduce the areas cordoned | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
off. I would like to thank the public and parliamentarians for | :28:31. | :28:34. | |
their patience and assistance as we carried out detailed examinations | :28:35. | :28:38. | |
and work in that area. As the Prime Minister said earlier on the UK | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
threat level has been at severe for some time and this level is not | :28:44. | :28:48. | |
changing. But we have enhanced the scale of our policing operations and | :28:49. | :28:54. | |
presence to cope Dummett protect communities across the country. As | :28:55. | :28:57. | |
we continue to investigate today's horrific events we want to reassure | :28:58. | :29:01. | |
the public that police and partners will do everything possible to | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
protect them. As a precautionary measure over the next few days we | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
have increased the number of officers on duty, armed and unarmed, | :29:10. | :29:14. | |
to provide a highly visible reassuring presence. This will | :29:15. | :29:16. | |
continue for as long as is necessary. Terrorists have a clear | :29:17. | :29:24. | |
aim, that is to create discord, distrust and to create fear. The | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
police stand with all communities in the UK and will take action against | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
anybody who seeks to undermine society, especially where their | :29:33. | :29:36. | |
crimes are motivated by hate. We must recognise now that our Muslim | :29:37. | :29:39. | |
communities will feel anxious at this time given the past behaviour | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
of extreme right-wing groups and we will continue to work with all | :29:44. | :29:46. | |
community leaders over the coming days. It is essential for us to | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
remain vigilant but also to work together policing communities, to | :29:52. | :29:56. | |
unite against those who seek through violence and extremism to threaten, | :29:57. | :30:01. | |
to intimidate, and to cause fear. We ask the public to be alert and to | :30:02. | :30:07. | |
report any suspicious activity to the police, calling our | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
anti-terrorism hotline on zero 807 89321, or dialling 999. Today is an | :30:12. | :30:19. | |
incredibly sad and sombre day, especially for the Metropolitan | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
Police Service. And everyone who is affected. It is only right that I | :30:25. | :30:28. | |
finish by mentioning the pride I feel in the swift and brave response | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
from our officers, especially from those who without fear for their own | :30:34. | :30:36. | |
safety confronted the terrorist. Thank you. I will take some | :30:37. | :30:42. | |
questions. You will not give away the identity on air but do you think | :30:43. | :30:46. | |
you know who the man is who carried out the attack? We think we know who | :30:47. | :30:50. | |
the attacker is and we're working at looking at associates. There are | :30:51. | :30:52. | |
proactive investigative journalists out there and I would ask for | :30:53. | :30:55. | |
restraint to allow the investigation to move forward without being | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
troubled by unnecessary reporting. Can you confirm if he was a British | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
national and whether there are concerns there are others involved | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
in this and the potential for other attacks? As I have said it is an | :31:09. | :31:11. | |
ongoing investigation and to give any more details about him, his | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
associates or investigations would be inappropriate so I can't answer. | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
Do you know the nationality of the attacker? We know we have a range of | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
nationalities and we are working with their host countries. As you | :31:26. | :31:28. | |
would expect in a tourist locations such as Westminster Bridge it would | :31:29. | :31:32. | |
be wrong for me to mention those now until we have managed to liaise with | :31:33. | :31:39. | |
the host countries and the families. Are you talking about Islamist | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
state? Islamic related terrorism is our assumption. INAUDIBLE | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
In terms of levels of concern the Prime Minister said earlier we are | :31:50. | :31:52. | |
not changing the national threat level. The independent body that | :31:53. | :31:55. | |
looks at those issues decided it is not necessary at that stage so we | :31:56. | :31:59. | |
are still at the level of severe and an attack remains highly likely. | :32:00. | :32:02. | |
Given what has happened on a precautionary basis across the | :32:03. | :32:06. | |
country we are stepping up police patrols, unarmed and armed and the | :32:07. | :32:10. | |
public will see far more of their local police forces over the local | :32:11. | :32:14. | |
days, particularly in crowded and iconic places. | :32:15. | :32:23. | |
How long will the centre of Westminster be closed as a crime | :32:24. | :32:25. | |
scene? The examination of the crime scene will take many hours, | :32:26. | :32:27. | |
Parliament will reopen tomorrow. Some of the crime scene will | :32:28. | :32:29. | |
restrict some of the entrances, but business must return to normal as | :32:30. | :32:32. | |
quickly as possible. You say you think you know the identity of this | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
attacker, was he known to you before? I will not talk about the | :32:38. | :32:41. | |
details of the investigation, the individual concerned and associates, | :32:42. | :32:44. | |
let us get on with the investigation. INAUDIBLE | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
The Parliamentary protection team, a combination of armed and unarmed | :32:50. | :32:52. | |
officers doing different roles and sadly the officer who lost his life | :32:53. | :32:56. | |
today was unarmed supported by armed colleagues who have shot and killed | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
the attacker. Are you surprised that he got so far? He tried to enter | :33:01. | :33:05. | |
parliament and was stopped very close to the gate. Does that have to | :33:06. | :33:11. | |
be changed in the future? It is too early to talk about matters like | :33:12. | :33:14. | |
that. Our parliamentarians say they want open democracy and the balance | :33:15. | :33:17. | |
between protection and the ability to you of the public to have access | :33:18. | :33:20. | |
is important and that is something for them to consider with us over | :33:21. | :33:25. | |
the coming days. Use it previously the military would be on hand to | :33:26. | :33:28. | |
provide reassurance. In the light of what has happened today, is that | :33:29. | :33:31. | |
something Londoners can expect to see on the streets soldiers? There | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
is no plan to do that in the coming days, I made the point early on in | :33:36. | :33:39. | |
line with our normal response to a terrorist attack we seek terrorist, | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
military support if necessary but that has not been necessary today. | :33:46. | :33:50. | |
Thank you for your time. Mark Rowley, the assistant Deputy | :33:51. | :33:55. | |
Commissioner giving us a pretty comprehensive statement confirming | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
quite a few details for us. Naming the police officer who lost his life | :34:00. | :34:05. | |
today, PC keep Palmer, 48, 15 years service, husband and father -- Keith | :34:06. | :34:12. | |
Parmar. As he said three members of the public lost their lives in the | :34:13. | :34:15. | |
attack, the attacker was killed during the course of the incident, | :34:16. | :34:19. | |
40 people injured now. We heard 20 earlier, including some very | :34:20. | :34:23. | |
seriously injured, including some police officers who were returning | :34:24. | :34:29. | |
from an event not far from the Palace of Westminster Crossing | :34:30. | :34:30. | |
Westminster Bridge when this happened today. They think they know | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
the identity of the attacker but they are being cautious about that | :34:37. | :34:39. | |
and they are working on the assumption that this was committed | :34:40. | :34:43. | |
in the context of international terrorism. They are not going | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
further than that at the moment but that is the context that they are | :34:48. | :34:51. | |
broadly offering right now. That was Mark Rowley, the man in charge of | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
this very comprehensive and wide-ranging investigation. As he | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
was explaining it, with hundreds of officers involved. Back to Laura | :35:01. | :35:03. | |
Kuenssberg for some thoughts on the range of detail provided. | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
There were some big headlines from Mark Rowley, first of all that the | :35:09. | :35:15. | |
scale of the attack was bigger than we thought moment ago, with five | :35:16. | :35:18. | |
people now known to have been good including the attacker, and 40 | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
injured. Also significant that he said the police's working assumption | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
is that this is an Islamist related terror attack. And also a hugely | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
significant piece of information that the police believe that they do | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
know the identity of the person who tried to attack Parliament today and | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
lost their life in the process. A very significant fact put out into | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
the public domain even at this early stage of the investigation, the | :35:47. | :35:49. | |
police being clear that they think they know who carried out this | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
shocking attack. So very significant chunks of new information coming out | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
less than eight hours after the attack, and it brings us on to what | :35:59. | :36:05. | |
the Government does next. Of course, terror attacks have taken place in | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
this country before. Other European governments in recent years have had | :36:11. | :36:16. | |
to deal with similar situations. But the very difficult thing for any | :36:17. | :36:21. | |
politician is how to balance our liberty versus the risk to the | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
public. It is an extremely difficult conundrum for any leader, and four | :36:27. | :36:29. | |
Theresa May now, a huge challenge that she must try to address, | :36:30. | :36:33. | |
although I should take that night senior government sources are | :36:34. | :36:36. | |
telling me that it is just too soon to be considering making any changes | :36:37. | :36:41. | |
to the current regimes we have. This bike today's shock, it is important | :36:42. | :36:44. | |
to underline that the terror threat to this country has not been raised | :36:45. | :36:53. | |
by the security services tonight. Laura, we will come back to you if | :36:54. | :36:55. | |
there is any other news. Leaders from around the world have | :36:56. | :36:57. | |
sent their support to London, France's President Hollande, | :36:58. | :37:00. | |
whose country has suffered a series of recent terror attacks, | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
sent his condolences. There were also messages of support | :37:06. | :37:11. | |
from Germany's Angela Merkel and the Belgian Prime Minister | :37:12. | :37:13. | |
Charles Michel, whose capital suffered a terror | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
attack exactly a year ago. Donald Trump has offered the "full | :37:19. | :37:21. | |
co-operation and support" of the United States, | :37:22. | :37:23. | |
so let's cross to Washington and our Tell us a little more about what the | :37:24. | :37:33. | |
White House has been saying? The president was quick to get on the | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
phone to Theresa May to express solidarity and condolences and say | :37:39. | :37:41. | |
that America would do everything it could to bring those responsible to | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
justice. Those comments have been echoed by other political leaders in | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
other government departments. One thing that hasn't happened is that | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
we haven't seen the president seeking to politicise the attack in | :37:56. | :37:57. | |
the way that he did after the Brussels attack and the Belgian | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
attacks, saying how it justified the strict measures against radical | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
Islam, as the president refers to it. But at the same time as the | :38:08. | :38:10. | |
president was talking to Theresa May, a summit was getting under way | :38:11. | :38:16. | |
with 68 foreign leaders in the fight against so-called Islamic State, | :38:17. | :38:18. | |
Britain being represented by Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary. This | :38:19. | :38:25. | |
is Donald Trump's number one foreign policy priority. He is determined to | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
say, our job is to destroy Islamic State. With no holds barred, we must | :38:31. | :38:34. | |
do whatever we can. There has been an intensification of that fight. We | :38:35. | :38:39. | |
spoke to the Nato Secretary General and said, what do you do when you | :38:40. | :38:44. | |
have got someone who is armed with a motorcar? He said that while the | :38:45. | :38:47. | |
fight against Islamic State could be won, there is no way you can give | :38:48. | :38:57. | |
people 100% security against that. Jon Sopel, many thanks. As you can | :38:58. | :39:07. | |
imagine, plenty of police and emergency service activity still at | :39:08. | :39:10. | |
Westminster tonight. We will be back with more on the day's news here. | :39:11. | :39:12. | |
But let's have a look at the day's other main stories with Reeta. | :39:13. | :39:16. | |
In the light of today's events at Westminster, | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
the Scottish Parliament has delayed a vote on whether to demand a second | :39:22. | :39:24. | |
MSPs were taking part in a second day of debate when the presiding | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
officer interrupted proceedings to say he'd decided | :39:30. | :39:30. | |
Our Scotland Editor Sarah Smith is at Holyrood. | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
Events in London had an immediate impact in Edinburgh? | :39:36. | :39:43. | |
They did. The flags are at half-mast outside the Scottish Parliament | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
tonight. Earlier today, it took a bit longer for information to filter | :39:50. | :39:52. | |
through. Whilst that debate was going on, we could see MSPs in the | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
chamber checking their phones, getting the news. The First Minister | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
left the chamber abruptly and eventually, one Tory MSP stood up | :40:02. | :40:04. | |
and asked the deputy presiding officer to stop the debate. At that | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
point, rather controversially, she said they would carry on with | :40:09. | :40:12. | |
business as usual, as she put it. I understand that that is because | :40:13. | :40:15. | |
Parliamentary authorities were concerned that they didn't want to | :40:16. | :40:19. | |
be seen to be giving into terrace, so they carried on, but MSPs were | :40:20. | :40:23. | |
really uncomfortable about that, some of them tweeting from the | :40:24. | :40:25. | |
chamber that the debate should be stopped. Some of them walked out. | :40:26. | :40:29. | |
Half an hour later, the presiding officer himself came in and said the | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
debate was going to be suspended because events in Westminster meant | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
that MSPs couldn't concentrate on the debate here about another | :40:39. | :40:39. | |
independence referendum for Scotland. But that was also | :40:40. | :40:44. | |
controversial. One MSP in particular looked really angry that the debate | :40:45. | :40:49. | |
was being stopped. Others said they should have carried on, because | :40:50. | :40:52. | |
terrorism shouldn't be allowed to derail Parliamentary debate. The | :40:53. | :40:55. | |
First Minister since then has said that it is heartbreaking news from | :40:56. | :40:59. | |
Westminster, sending her condolences to the bereaved and saying she | :41:00. | :41:02. | |
stands in solidarity with the people of London. Many thanks. | :41:03. | :41:06. | |
Thames Water has been fined a record ?20 million for polluting | :41:07. | :41:09. | |
Nearly 1.5 billion litres of raw sewage entered the river | :41:10. | :41:18. | |
in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, leaving people and animals | :41:19. | :41:20. | |
The judge at Aylesbury Crown Court said Thames Water managers had | :41:21. | :41:24. | |
repeatedly ignored warnings identified by their own employees, | :41:25. | :41:26. | |
and that the incident was a "failure waiting to happen". | :41:27. | :41:29. | |
This is one of six outlets where the raw sewage spewed | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
Over 2012 and 2013, 1.4 billion litres of untreated muck flowed in. | :41:35. | :41:45. | |
The pictures of it don't convey the stench or the danger, | :41:46. | :41:49. | |
but this is what the judge called shocking and shameful, | :41:50. | :41:51. | |
What was coming out here was raw, untreated sewage. | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
Dominic Smulders lives and works here, and says people | :41:58. | :41:59. | |
I mean, you don't live next to the royal River Thames and expect | :42:00. | :42:06. | |
to see royal sewage passing the bottom of your garden. | :42:07. | :42:10. | |
I don't think we'll ever find out the truth about how many | :42:11. | :42:13. | |
The judge blamed the leaks on systematic poor maintenance, | :42:14. | :42:19. | |
and said the company deliberately concealed the problems | :42:20. | :42:20. | |
These staff comments in a log were ignored by managers. | :42:21. | :42:27. | |
This was a failure waiting to happen. | :42:28. | :42:35. | |
But those failures did happen repeatedly all along the Thames | :42:36. | :42:38. | |
here, which is why today, the judge imposed a fine | :42:39. | :42:40. | |
of ?20 million, the largest ever for a British water company. | :42:41. | :42:47. | |
This record fine sends a signal to the companies that safeguarding | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
the environment is not an optional extra. | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
It is an essential part of how businesses must operate. | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
Thames Water said shareholders, not customers, will pay the fine, | :43:01. | :43:03. | |
We have failed in our responsibility to the environment, and that hurts | :43:04. | :43:11. | |
both personally and professionally, because we do care. | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
We have also failed in our responsibility to our customers. | :43:17. | :43:20. | |
Delve in, and the sludge has been mostly sluiced away. | :43:21. | :43:26. | |
But today's case warns all water companies not | :43:27. | :43:28. | |
Duncan Kennedy, BBC News, on the Thames. | :43:29. | :43:38. | |
Back now to Huw and our top story at Westminster. | :43:39. | :43:51. | |
Westminster was packed today with tourists, lots of them visiting | :43:52. | :43:57. | |
Parliament. Among those in the area was the BBC's Nick Robinson. I | :43:58. | :44:06. | |
arrived here after the attack had begun on the bridge behind us. As I | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
was walking just down there towards Big Ben, I encountered a group of | :44:12. | :44:16. | |
what were clearly traumatised teenagers, French schoolchildren on | :44:17. | :44:19. | |
a trip here to London. When I talk to them, I had no idea what had | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
happened. I asked them. Some of them were too upset to talk, crying, | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
others hugging each other. Later, I saw one on the ground, insert | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
shocked that she was being treated by a police officer and covered with | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
one of those foil blankets to keep her warm. One boy said to me, look, | :44:38. | :44:44. | |
a car drove into our party. Three of my friends, he told me, were hit by | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
the car. Then he said he was just a few feet away. He described a man | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
getting out of the car waving what he described as a machete, and he | :44:54. | :44:57. | |
said to me in broken English that two were cut. I asked him, were they | :44:58. | :45:03. | |
killed? He said no, but he said they were seriously injured. And | :45:04. | :45:07. | |
realising how serious this was, I of course let them get on their way and | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
comfort each other. Of course, as we now know, that was just the | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
beginning of it. You have worked here for many years. The security | :45:18. | :45:21. | |
levels in this place have increased beyond all recognition from ten or | :45:22. | :45:25. | |
20 years ago. It has changed dramatically. First, we had a poor | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
security, so you are scanned on the way in. Then we saw the armed guards | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
standing outside the entrances, very visible. Then those huge black | :45:35. | :45:40. | |
concrete blocks were dropped. One night, I remember a warning that | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
there could be a suicide bomber. And yet, for those of us coming in and | :45:45. | :45:47. | |
out every day, the police officers, they might be wearing the body | :45:48. | :45:51. | |
armour and carrying their machine guns, but they were friends, people | :45:52. | :45:54. | |
who knew our name. There were people who chatted to you about your health | :45:55. | :45:59. | |
and your family. And yet today, we were reminded that they have a real | :46:00. | :46:03. | |
purpose and they are brave people who run towards fire. They ran | :46:04. | :46:07. | |
towards attackers. They don't run away. So the likes of you and me, | :46:08. | :46:12. | |
and our elected representatives, can keep safe. This was a day we all | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
knew was likely. We knew preparations were being made. But | :46:17. | :46:19. | |
there is no preparation for the shock of what we have seen. | :46:20. | :46:26. | |
Nick Robinson, thank you for sharing what you saw with us today. | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
The Metropolitan Police say there are extra officers, | :46:32. | :46:33. | |
both armed and unarmed, on the streets of London tonight. | :46:34. | :46:35. | |
An attack on the capital has been long feared, | :46:36. | :46:38. | |
and despite the success of the security services | :46:39. | :46:40. | |
in averting a series of plots, there have also been warnings | :46:41. | :46:42. | |
So how have people here been reacting? | :46:43. | :46:50. | |
Our home editor Mark Easton reports on London's response | :46:51. | :46:52. | |
On this painful day in the life of our nation and our city... | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
Sirens and prayers mixed together at the church | :46:58. | :46:59. | |
Outside, the authorities have placed physical reassurance. | :47:00. | :47:04. | |
Police just being there to make people feel safe. | :47:05. | :47:07. | |
A busker set up at his spot in Trafalgar Square as Theatreland | :47:08. | :47:16. | |
If London was in shock, the crowds of locals and tourists | :47:17. | :47:24. | |
suggested they were determined to ignore any anxieties. | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
We had just arrived in London as it was all happening, | :47:30. | :47:31. | |
so it was a bit worrying but it hasn't stopped us. | :47:32. | :47:34. | |
I have faith that we're going to be OK. | :47:35. | :47:39. | |
Because I'm coming from Turkey, actually, I'm used to these | :47:40. | :47:41. | |
Once we let our families know we are all right... | :47:42. | :47:47. | |
For years, Londoners have been warned the question | :47:48. | :47:52. | |
was not if another attack would come but when. | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
They've read the signs and heard the advice about suspicious activity | :47:58. | :48:00. | |
and unattended packages, the possibility of being caught up | :48:01. | :48:02. | |
in random violence crosses people's minds regularly. | :48:03. | :48:04. | |
It's been expected for quite a long time, it's amazing | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
that there haven't been more attacks in London. | :48:11. | :48:13. | |
It shows that the services must be doing a good job. | :48:14. | :48:16. | |
Well, I've been quite shaky because we're quite close, | :48:17. | :48:19. | |
just over the river there, but it was bound to happen | :48:20. | :48:22. | |
Fluorescent flashes and wailing sirens remind those | :48:23. | :48:30. | |
who were in London in 2005 of the aftermath of 7/7. | :48:31. | :48:32. | |
Extra police patrols, some with guns. | :48:33. | :48:36. | |
But even they have become a relatively familiar | :48:37. | :48:38. | |
Inside the cordon, a vast crime scene. | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
London SW1 is under forensic control. | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
But outside the city carries on its business. | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
For Londoners, today has been disturbing and desperately sad. | :48:55. | :48:56. | |
But the city remains calm and carries on. | :48:57. | :49:00. | |
Mark Easton, BBC News, Central London. | :49:01. | :49:09. | |
In the past few minutes the Metropolitan Police have released an | :49:10. | :49:16. | |
image of the police officer who lost his life in the line of duty today, | :49:17. | :49:21. | |
PC Keith Palmer who was 48, had served for 15 years in the police | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
force, a husband and father as described by the assistant Deputy | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
Commissioner, and of course, the force and all the families | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
associated with the force are wanting to pay tribute to him for | :49:36. | :49:41. | |
his service and of course for his sacrifice today. The Conservative MP | :49:42. | :49:48. | |
Adam Afriyie is with me. First of all important to underline the | :49:49. | :49:51. | |
officers and emergency services today all of them responded with | :49:52. | :49:55. | |
great courage and efficiency. Absolutely. I was in Palace Yard | :49:56. | :49:59. | |
about 30 metres from the event at the time and the speed after which | :50:00. | :50:07. | |
the first gunshot rang out and the speed with which the house services | :50:08. | :50:10. | |
and security services gave instructions to return to portcullis | :50:11. | :50:15. | |
house. It was impressive. It is a sad, sobering day and a day of | :50:16. | :50:20. | |
steely determination to make sure democracy continues despite the | :50:21. | :50:23. | |
challenges. Everyone around responded in the way they could, | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
including some of your Parliamentary colleagues. Yes, we were told to | :50:29. | :50:31. | |
move back I've heard gunshots before and moved back quickly behind a | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
pillar and moved back to portcullis house and I saw my good friend | :50:36. | :50:38. | |
Tobias Ellwood who have known for many years, ex-military, walking the | :50:39. | :50:42. | |
opposite direction with a steely determination in his eyes and I said | :50:43. | :50:45. | |
to him you are on some kind of mission, he went straight past and | :50:46. | :50:49. | |
he was an omission, his brother died in Bali in the terrorist attack and | :50:50. | :50:53. | |
he was clearly going to assist in whichever way he could and he has | :50:54. | :50:57. | |
been very noble and courageous and I am sure that his family are proud of | :50:58. | :51:01. | |
what he has done. The Prime Minister's Nizic tonight was very | :51:02. | :51:04. | |
clear, notwithstanding the fact the police have talked about the | :51:05. | :51:08. | |
security levels remaining the same, despite today cosmic events, but | :51:09. | :51:11. | |
really saying it is very important for Parliament to be -- today's | :51:12. | :51:18. | |
events. To be seen to be going about events in the usual way tomorrow. It | :51:19. | :51:21. | |
is essential and the sense I had this afternoon talking to other | :51:22. | :51:24. | |
members of Parliament, we all feel the same. There is an utter steely | :51:25. | :51:28. | |
determination to ensure Parliament continues to sit, that despite the | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
short-term disruptions that democracy wins through. But ever | :51:34. | :51:37. | |
these perpetrators think they are up to they have no impact on | :51:38. | :51:40. | |
parliamentary democracy. My heart really goes out to the families, | :51:41. | :51:46. | |
that actually you know we need to mourn for them, console them, send | :51:47. | :51:49. | |
our commiserations but we need to do our job of making sure that | :51:50. | :51:53. | |
Parliamentary democracy continues. Adam Afriyie, good to talk to you, | :51:54. | :51:56. | |
and thank you for joining us on a difficult night for people at | :51:57. | :52:01. | |
Westminster. Thank you very much. Bassett from Westminster on the day | :52:02. | :52:04. | |
that has seen the worst terror incident in London since the 7th of | :52:05. | :52:08. | |
July 2005. There have been five deaths including the attacker, but | :52:09. | :52:12. | |
of course including a police officer named in the last half-hour as PC | :52:13. | :52:17. | |
Keith Palmer, more than 40 people injured and the man who carried out | :52:18. | :52:21. | |
the attack was shot dead by police. There will be continuing coverage | :52:22. | :52:25. | |
tonight on the BBC News channel but here on BBC One we leave you with | :52:26. | :52:29. | |
some images from the day Westminster came under attack. | :52:30. | :52:33. | |
Order, I am now going to suspend the sitting of the house. | :52:34. | :53:40. | |
We will all move forward together, never giving in to terror. | :53:41. | :53:42. |