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you can, lots more coverage coming from some of the people that have | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
seen it and some analysis to. You have been watching BBC News. | :00:00. | :00:14. | |
Terrorism in the heart of Westminster - a vehicle and knife | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
attack has left four people, including a police officer, dead. | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
Eyewitnesses say a car "mowed down" pedestrians | :00:24. | :00:24. | |
on Westminster Bridge before crashing into railings | :00:25. | :00:26. | |
At least two people who were hit have died, | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
On the other side of the road there was a body and when I looked | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
When I looked over the side of the bridge, there appeared to be | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
It's believed a short time after, the attacker stabbed a police | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
officer outside Parliament - who has since died | :00:46. | :00:47. | |
The attacker was shot an apprehended by police. | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
He is also known to be one of the number who have died. | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
The Prime Minister was in Parliament but is now back in Downing Street - | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
she will chair an emergency Cobra meeting tonight - | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
We now have an ongoing operation, and whilst we currently believe | :01:04. | :01:15. | |
there was only one attacker, I'm sure the public will understand us | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
taking every precaution in locking down and searching the area as | :01:21. | :01:22. | |
thoroughly and exhaustively as possible. I'm reporting live from | :01:23. | :01:29. | |
the edge of the police cord and in Westminster where there is still | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
intense police activity tonight. Police are warning the public to | :01:35. | :01:36. | |
remain vigilant this morning. Good evening and | :01:37. | :01:51. | |
welcome to BBC News. Westminster is in a state | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
of emergency tonight, after what the Metropolitan Police | :01:58. | :01:58. | |
described as a terror incident. Four people are known to have died | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
including an attacker. A police officer was killed | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
inside the parliamentary grounds. An attacker is reported to have run | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
down several pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
crashing into railings. Others suffered "catastrophic" | :02:15. | :02:16. | |
injuries, according The attacker is then reported | :02:17. | :02:24. | |
to have run through the gates of the Palace of Westminster | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
and stabbed the police officer. The officer has died | :02:29. | :02:30. | |
from his injuries. Eyewitnesses said the attacker | :02:31. | :02:31. | |
was shot by police as he approached During the attack, MPs in the House | :02:32. | :02:34. | |
of Commons were told to lie on the floor for their own safety. | :02:35. | :02:42. | |
A spokesman for ten Downing Street has released a statement saying: | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
The thoughts of the PM and the Government are with those | :02:46. | :02:48. | |
killed and injured in this appalling The PM is being kept updated | :02:49. | :02:51. | |
and will shortly chair Cobra. Ben Brown is in Westminster this | :02:52. | :03:11. | |
evening. We are just at the edge of the police cordon that has been | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
established ever since this incident happened, a lot of police activity | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
still. Police cars are racing around the streets nearby, we can hear | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
police helicopters in the sky and ambulances are moving around quickly | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
as well. The police are saying they are putting extra officers on the | :03:30. | :03:32. | |
street of the capital this evening, they are warning the public to | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
remain vigilant. They are asking the public for any information about | :03:38. | :03:40. | |
this incident, whether they saw it, whether they took pictures, they | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
want that information. The latest we have is four people have died, | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
including the attacker and as many as 20 people have been injured. Many | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
of them being treated at St Thomas' Hospital, including three French | :03:58. | :04:00. | |
schoolchildren. In terms of what happened at Westminster, MPs and | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
peers and other workers were on lockdown for a number of hours. | :04:08. | :04:10. | |
They've been moved from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
to safety, and some office workers we've just been talking to have now | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
been allowed out of the cordoned area. They've been allowed to go | :04:21. | :04:23. | |
home from this area of Westminster that has been on lockdown. | :04:24. | :04:26. | |
Our first report tonight is from our political editor, | :04:27. | :04:29. | |
Laura Kuenssberg who has been inside Parliament. | :04:30. | :04:30. | |
The shouts around the hearts of Westminster. | :04:31. | :04:51. | |
Members of the public, politicians, the hundreds of staff | :04:52. | :04:59. | |
for whom this is work, in politics, but some, | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
There are at least a couple of hundred people | :05:04. | :05:17. | |
This is the heart of where Westminster does its business | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
and we're part of a lockdown after what happened outside. | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
A police officer has told me one man was shot at the front, | :05:27. | :05:29. | |
and people heard three of gunshots on their way to vote. | :05:30. | :05:36. | |
This is a place that is tightly guarded at all times, | :05:37. | :05:38. | |
but a sense of shock, finally it appears something | :05:39. | :05:40. | |
so serious has happened right here in the heart of Westminster. | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
I am now going to suspend the sitting of the House. | :05:47. | :05:58. | |
This house is now suspended, but please wait here. | :05:59. | :06:00. | |
Then in a chamber that sat through all sorts | :06:01. | :06:02. | |
There has been a serious incident within the estate. | :06:03. | :06:09. | |
It seems that a police officer has been stabbed. | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
That the alleged assailant was shot by armed police. | :06:14. | :06:22. | |
An air ambulance is currently attending the scene | :06:23. | :06:24. | |
There are also reports of further violent incidents in the vicinity | :06:25. | :06:32. | |
of the Palace of Westminster, but I hope colleagues | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
on all sides will appreciate, that it will be wrong of me | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
here to go into further details until we have confirmation | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
from the police and from the House security authorities | :06:47. | :06:48. | |
As the seriousness of the attack began to spread, MPs | :06:49. | :06:56. | |
told me they heard three or four gunshots on their way to vote. | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
Others saw with their eyes, from their office windows. | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
We saw a thickset man in black clothes come through the gates | :07:05. | :07:11. | |
New Palace Yard is just below Big Ben. | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
This man had something in his hand, it looked like a stick. | :07:18. | :07:20. | |
He was challenged by a couple of policemen in yellow jackets. | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
We could see the man in black moving his arm in a way that | :07:24. | :07:32. | |
suggested he was either stabbing or striking the yellow | :07:33. | :07:34. | |
One of the policemen ran to get help, which was very, | :07:35. | :07:45. | |
As this attacker was running towards the entrance used by MPs, | :07:46. | :07:53. | |
two plainclothes guys with guns shouted at him, uttered | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
He ignored it and they shot two or three times and he fell. | :07:59. | :08:05. | |
I heard what I thought was just a collision. | :08:06. | :08:21. | |
And then I looked out the window of the taxi and I saw someone down, | :08:22. | :08:24. | |
Then I saw a second person down and I started filming and I saw | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
three more people down, one of them bleeding profusely. | :08:30. | :08:32. | |
So what I saw was an incident involving at least five | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
I was just walking across the bridge when suddenly a bus stopped, | :08:37. | :08:48. | |
people were screaming and came off the bus and they seemed very upset. | :08:49. | :08:51. | |
Then I saw what appeared to be a trainer on the side of the road. | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
On the other side of the road there was a body and when I looked | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
On the other side of the bridge, there appeared to be a body | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
A car and driver intent on taking the lives of those who came to see. | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
What is normally a safe circle, the most tightly guarded part | :09:09. | :09:11. | |
The Counter Terrorism Command are carrying out a full-scale | :09:12. | :09:30. | |
investigation into the events today. The attack started when a car was | :09:31. | :09:33. | |
driven over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injuring a number of | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
members of the public, also including three police officers on | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
their way back from a commendation ceremony. The car crashed near to | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
Parliament and at least one man, armed with a knife, continued the | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
attack and tried to enter Parliament. Sadly I can confirm that | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
now four people have died. That includes the police officer who was | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
protecting Parliament, and one man we believe to be an attacker who was | :09:59. | :10:00. | |
shot by a police firearms officer. Police and the government | :10:01. | :10:06. | |
are considering there's attack For an attack to stop democracy, not | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
just politicians who came to work, but hundreds of people to visit | :10:11. | :10:23. | |
and be part of this place. I have been here with a group | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
of students and we are in a building which is close to the Riverside | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
and quite near where Little did they know what kind of | :10:31. | :10:38. | |
situation would unfold. It's still very hard to believe what's happened | :10:39. | :10:39. | |
here today. An attack, that in theory, | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
many expected to come to London again one day, | :10:44. | :10:45. | |
but the truth of an event like this in practice, | :10:46. | :10:47. | |
a shock in our parliament, Whatever the motive, an effort | :10:48. | :10:50. | |
to stop our democracy in its tracks. Laura Kuenssberg reporting. The | :10:51. | :11:05. | |
Prime Minister was in the Palace of Westminster when it happened and was | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
whisked away, driven straight to Downing Street. We gather this | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
evening she is chairing a meeting of Cobra, the government's emergency | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
committee. There is expected to be the Home Secretary Amber Rudd there. | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
We do not yet know the full impact of this terrible incident. I know | :11:23. | :11:30. | |
that the whole country will be thinking and praying for those who | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
are affected, as I am. I want to thank the emergency services for the | :11:36. | :11:41. | |
quick response, and pay tribute to their bravery, their courage and | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
their professionalism. I've been briefed by the Met police and by the | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
security services, and the security minister has also been updated. This | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
is an ongoing incident, and the government will continue to be | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
updated. The Prime Minister will chair Cobra today. The government's | :12:01. | :12:07. | |
top priority is the security of its people. And I urge everyone to | :12:08. | :12:14. | |
remain calm, but to be vigilant, and if they see anything they are | :12:15. | :12:16. | |
concerned about, they should report it to the police. We have the best | :12:17. | :12:23. | |
police, the best security services in the world, and we must make sure | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
that we let them get on with doing their job. The British people will | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
be united in working together to defeat those who would harm our | :12:36. | :12:42. | |
shared values. By use of democracy, tolerance, and the rule of law. -- | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
values of democracy. Values symbolised by the houses of | :12:48. | :12:50. | |
Parliament, values that will never be destroyed. | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
That was the Home Secretary Amber Rudd speaking a while ago. We expect | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
that Cobra meeting to get under way shortly. Let's speak now to | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
Professor Michael Clarke, professor of defence studies and a security | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
expert. What are the implications of this attack? The authorities have | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
been expecting something like this for some time. This is only the | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
third successful attack since 2001, the 911 attacks themselves. In a | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
way, we've been waiting for this data arrive and it's arrived. It's | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
pretty gruesome but it could have been a lot worse. If you drive a | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
truck into a group of tourists, you could kill a great number, and | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
trying something in the Palace of Westminster, this gentleman who | :13:41. | :13:42. | |
allegedly committed the attack didn't have a gun, it was a knife. | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
It could have been a lot worse. We are grateful for small mercies but | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
this day has been a long time coming. It is the one-year | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
anniversary of the Brussels attack, is that a coincidence or could that | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
be part of the planning behind this attack? The authorities will be | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
thinking about that. Generally speaking, terrorist attacks aren't | :14:05. | :14:06. | |
usually times on anniversaries and I'd be surprised if this one was. It | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
looks like a lone wolf attack at the moment but the government will be | :14:13. | :14:15. | |
asking itself, could this be the beginning of a campaign? Is there | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
any intelligence which indicates this is one of several in the | :14:20. | :14:22. | |
pipeline, and who does this alleged attacker connect to? The police have | :14:23. | :14:29. | |
been out and about in a big way, their first concern is, is it over | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
now or is there another phase still in the pipeline? Secondly, if it's | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
over, does it connect to something bigger? They know the Golden hour is | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
the 24 hours after the attack when they can check on this person's | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
connections. We've been told many times that MI5 and the | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
counterterrorism police have foiled a number of plots in the last years. | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
There was a figure of 13 given recently, but they always said they | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
couldn't stop them all. Absolutely, it's the law of averages. 13 stopped | :15:01. | :15:08. | |
since 2013. They say it's about four or five per year that they foil. Our | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
own research records indicate there have been a good 70 plots since | :15:14. | :15:19. | |
2001. Only three have been successful. But sooner or later in | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
an open society, in a place where tourists go, somebody is going to | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
get through. You don't have to be very expert to commit enormous | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
destruction in open societies. If it's not a conspiracy, if it turns | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
out to be a lone wolf, that is obviously so much harder to stop | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
because there are maybe no communications whatsoever. That's | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
true. On the face of it, let's be cautious, but on the face of it this | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
looks like a lone wolf attack. But lone wolves never acted entirely | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
alone. They always connect a somebody. There are very few cases | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
of what the authorities call clean skins. People who have come out of | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
nowhere. Usually they turn out to be inspired by somebody, usually they | :16:06. | :16:08. | |
have a background in petty crime, they will be known to someone. The | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
big question in this case is, was he on the radar somewhere, and I bet he | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
was. Almost always they are on the radar somewhere, but the radar is | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
pretty extensive. Always the problem we hear again and again, even if | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
somebody is on the radar, they have to prioritise. 24 hour surveillance | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
of anyone is labour intensive, you can't carry out surveillance on | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
everyone who is on your radar. Absolutely right. Authorities are in | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
a process of risk calculation. They say, who are the core people we | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
worry about. To put a tag on somebody 24-7, takes something of | :16:45. | :16:53. | |
the order of 20-30 officers. All the time they are looking at individuals | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
and saying, this person is potentially dangerous, let's leave | :16:58. | :17:00. | |
him or her in the background until we hear something else. Every now | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
and then somebody pops up from Tier three or four of the risk register | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
and they come into Tier one. There's no way you can register against that | :17:10. | :17:17. | |
unless you want to go into a Stasi-style Secret Service. We don't | :17:18. | :17:20. | |
do that, we aren't that sort of society. Thank you for your | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
thoughts. Professor of defence studies and a security expert. The | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
death toll is currently standing at four including the attacker. The | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
police officer who was stabbed and then two other victims. One of them | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
a woman. 20 people we gather were injured on the bridge as that | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
vehicle ran into pedestrians on the bridge, including three young French | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
schoolchildren, who were on a school trip to London. Many of the | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
casualties being treated at St Thomas' Hospital just across the | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
river from Westminster. Let's go to our correspondent Sophie Hutchinson. | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
I'm at St Thomas' Hospital, which is just across the river from the | :18:07. | :18:14. | |
Houses of Parliament where the attack took place. Just next to the | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
bridge where the car allegedly mowed down a group of people. If you have | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
a look around at the aftermath of some of the scene, you can see the | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
aftermath of the emergency response with a dozen or more ambulances, | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
just in the street here beside the hospital. That is the hospital in | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
the background. Next to it, you can see this sightseeing bus which seems | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
to have been abandoned, as the attack took place. Also just some | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
ordinary cars, also abandoned as it happened. The London ambulance say | :18:50. | :18:56. | |
they arrived at, well, they were called at 2:40pm, they treated at | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
least ten people on Westminster Bridge. Westminster Bridge is just | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
behind this bus. Staff at St Thomas' Hospital, as they heard of the | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
attack, they rushed out to try to help people at the scene. It was a | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
junior doctor here at St Thomas' Hospital, who was the first to say | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
that somebody had died. A woman died at the scene on the bridge after | :19:20. | :19:28. | |
being hit by that car. He also said there were catastrophic injuries for | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
many of the other people. This hospital here isn't one of the main | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
trauma centres, it has some trauma services, but we know that at least | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
five people have been taken to be treated at King's College Hospital | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
in south-east London which is one of the main trauma centres. We don't | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
know any more about the treatment they are having, or their condition | :19:50. | :19:55. | |
at the moment. We also know a woman has been treated for serious | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
injuries after falling into the River Thames. That's all the update | :19:59. | :20:05. | |
we have at the moment on what are at least 20 people who were injured in | :20:06. | :20:06. | |
this attack. Major hospitals like St Thomas' | :20:07. | :20:16. | |
Hospital Du train for an incident of this kind, a really serious terror | :20:17. | :20:22. | |
incident. That's right, absolutely. They have a plan that they can carry | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
out when a major incident like this takes place. That is some of what | :20:29. | :20:35. | |
you are seeing here on the street, these ambulances just beside me, you | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
get some measure of the scale of the response. At the time they didn't | :20:40. | :20:46. | |
know how widespread this attack was, and what kind of response it | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
merited. We also saw an air ambulance going backwards and | :20:51. | :20:57. | |
forwards from Parliament Square. Presumably taking casualties to one | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
of those major trauma centres, it is obviously extremely important they | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
are taken there as as soon as possible, that's why these big | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
centres are setup to be able to respond to an incident of that | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
nature. Obviously the ground there were individual members of staff, | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
doctors and nurses who came out with stretchers, going back and forth | :21:19. | :21:21. | |
across Westminster Bridge, just trying to help out in the moment | :21:22. | :21:33. | |
when the tactic place. Thank you. What's the latest from King's | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
College Hospital? We heard a short while ago from King's College | :21:40. | :21:41. | |
Hospital that they are treating eight people who were injured in the | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
terrorist attack. They've told us six of those are men, two are women. | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
Two of those are critically ill and the other six are stable. Tonight | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
the hospital has declared a major incident and it is asking the public | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
not to come to A unless it's absolutely crucial. As you've heard, | :22:01. | :22:07. | |
there were four people killed and 20 injured. Most of those treated at St | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
Thomas' Hospital, where some of the injuries have been described as | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
catastrophic. Tonight all the medical teams involved have been | :22:16. | :22:17. | |
praised for their hard work and dedication. Thank you. The | :22:18. | :22:26. | |
Metropolitan Police are telling us they've opened a casualty bureau. | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
Let me give you the details. It is now open and if you want to ring, if | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
you are worried about family or friends involved in today's | :22:37. | :22:39. | |
incident, you can call the Metropolitan Police casualty bureau | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
on 0800 056 0944. Or 0207 1580 010. If you are worried | :22:46. | :23:11. | |
about anyone call one of those numbers. The Metropolitan Police say | :23:12. | :23:19. | |
please call that number and choose either the numbers listed above, or | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
choose option two. Demand on that number will be high. Keep trying. | :23:25. | :23:30. | |
Let's get the latest from my colleague Adam Fleming in | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
Westminster. I'm outside Westminster Abbey just on the other side of | :23:38. | :23:44. | |
Parliament Square from the houses of Parliament. Normally we see this | :23:45. | :23:54. | |
square during national events. Today it is acting as a place of safety | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
from people evacuated in the aftermath of the incident outside | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
Parliament today. They've been inside for a couple of hours now, | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
the dean of the cathedral saying he was happy to welcome people as a | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
place of safety. He offered a prey as people arrived at the building. | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
It's also been turned into a temporary police station. There has | :24:16. | :24:18. | |
been a constant stream of police officers passing through the cordon | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
going into the building. They are interviewing eyewitnesses to the | :24:24. | :24:26. | |
attack that happened on Parliament today, gathering as much information | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
and evidence as possible for the investigation into how this | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
happened, who was behind it, and also presumably looking at the | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
security indications for these buildings in this area. You can hear | :24:39. | :24:41. | |
a police helicopter circling above us. There were loads of members the | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
international media here, and several police vans parked inside | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
the secure cordon that has been set up. One of the irony is being that | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
this bit of road has been called broad Sanctuary, that is what it has | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
been, a sanctuary for people caught up in this attack. Let's picked our | :25:01. | :25:07. | |
political correspondent who has been at Westminster all day. We were just | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
hearing about the MPs and peers, people evacuated to Westminster | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
Abbey, such a dramatic day here at Westminster. I understand those | :25:17. | :25:19. | |
people will be three arched they will be interviewed and people will | :25:20. | :25:23. | |
be asked what they saw and where they were when it happened -- | :25:24. | :25:30. | |
triaged. The Prime Minister has returned back to Downing Street. We | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
know she is back in the building. She was in the House of Commons when | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
this happened, witnesses say they saw her bundled into a car before | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
being taken to Downing Street. She is due to hold an emergency Cobra | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
meeting tonight, we will be keeping an eye on what we get out of that | :25:47. | :25:55. | |
meeting. Thank you. Our political correspondent and the Metropolitan | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
Police saying four people are now dead and at least 20 injured. That's | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
the latest from Westminster, live coverage throughout the evening. | :26:04. | :26:13. | |
You're watching BBC News. We were hearing from the Metropolitan Police | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
a lot of details about what happens. Daniel Sandford is our home affairs | :26:19. | :26:21. | |
correspondent. Bring us up-to-date with your understanding of what the | :26:22. | :26:29. | |
police are telling us tonight. The Metropolitan Police have declared | :26:30. | :26:32. | |
this is a counterterrorism incident, there is a major investigation | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
underway. I'm standing outside the new headquarters of the Metropolitan | :26:38. | :26:41. | |
Police New Scotland Yard which hasn't even been officially opened. | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
Today they had a major terrorist incident literally on their | :26:48. | :26:49. | |
doorstep. Westminster Bridge is less than a hundred metres up the road | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
from here. To Mike Westminster Bridge is a crime scene, where at | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
least eight people were hit by this vehicle as it came over the bridge. | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
Somebody else appears to have ended up in the river, as a result of that | :27:03. | :27:06. | |
incident. The vehicle then turned around the corner just behind New | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
Scotland Yard, smashed into the side of Parliament, and the assailant got | :27:12. | :27:16. | |
out, attacked a police officer who has now unfortunately died, before | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
the assailant himself was shot dead by police. Two other people, apart | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
from that police officer and the assailant died, and we believe they | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
died as the car mowed through tourists, schoolchildren, students | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
and people on their way from work, and on their way to work from their | :27:36. | :27:39. | |
lunch break on Westminster Bridge. Mark Rowley the Acting Deputy | :27:40. | :27:47. | |
Commissioner who is also the national coordinator for | :27:48. | :27:49. | |
counterterrorism briefed us outside Scotland Yard earlier this evening. | :27:50. | :27:52. | |
It's possible he will give us an update later on this evening, and | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
Scotland Yard have to face up to the fact that they've had to deal with | :27:59. | :28:01. | |
today what they've been worrying about the several years now. Really | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
since the attack on Lee Rigby, not only an attack on the seat of UK | :28:06. | :28:13. | |
politics, but an attack on one of their own offices. And, as it turns | :28:14. | :28:16. | |
out, right on their very doorstep as well. Thank you. We gather the Prime | :28:17. | :28:24. | |
Minister is chairing a meeting of the government's emergency committee | :28:25. | :28:27. | |
Cobra this evening, to get all the details from the police and the | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
security services about what happened today, and to plan for the | :28:33. | :28:36. | |
future. Police saying they are putting extra officers on the | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
streets, not just around Westminster, but right around the | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
capital. They are warning the public to be vigilant. In terms of | :28:45. | :28:47. | |
Parliament, we gather MPs and peers will sit tomorrow as normal. | :28:48. | :29:02. | |
The police response took moments and as the cordons close, | :29:03. | :29:05. | |
those who watched these terrifying scenes unfold added to the accounts | :29:06. | :29:07. | |
200 yards from Big Ben, overlooking Westminster Bridge, | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
I arrived just after the incident, and I bumped into a group | :29:14. | :29:19. | |
of extremely traumatised French teenagers who were here | :29:20. | :29:21. | |
One of them described to me what had happened on the bridge, | :29:22. | :29:28. | |
how he saw a car drive into what he thought were two | :29:29. | :29:34. | |
Many of the people were too upset, trying to much | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
I passed one person lying on the pavement covered in one | :29:40. | :29:47. | |
of those metallic blankets you see after the marathon. | :29:48. | :29:49. | |
And from inside Parliament itself, reporters heard the attacker's car | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
hit the barriers outside, and saw what happened next. | :29:55. | :29:57. | |
We heard a big bang outside at about 2:40pm and then | :29:58. | :30:00. | |
And then 200 or so tourists or passers-by started running | :30:01. | :30:08. | |
from Westminster Bridge across the pavement in front | :30:09. | :30:09. | |
There was shooting outside Parliament and an ambulance landed. | :30:10. | :30:24. | |
The police are marking the area out with cones. | :30:25. | :30:30. | |
Emergency services converged in force to tend to the casualties. | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
At this stage, no-one knew quite how many. | :30:36. | :30:38. | |
Metres away, London life went on blissful ignorance. | :30:39. | :30:43. | |
I then made my way into the tube station | :30:44. | :30:48. | |
and I could see people walking around with their kids | :30:49. | :30:50. | |
I went straight to the control room and said, you need to shut | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
the tube station now, we have got a terror attack | :30:56. | :30:58. | |
on the Palace of Westminster, you need to shut it now. | :30:59. | :31:01. | |
He put a radio alert out to all staff and they put | :31:02. | :31:04. | |
All the MPs were going to vote when the incident happened. | :31:05. | :31:14. | |
It sounds like I was a little bit further ahead of her on the way to | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
the old Palace when the gunshots rang out. | :31:20. | :31:25. | |
It takes a moment to think that is not a car backfiring, | :31:26. | :31:28. | |
Then there was lots of yelling, get down on the floor, | :31:29. | :31:32. | |
get back into the building, which is what we all did. | :31:33. | :31:34. | |
The numbers killed, the casualty list has grown. | :31:35. | :31:40. | |
An attack aimed at the heart of British national life. | :31:41. | :31:42. | |
The security services will study what happened here and seek to learn | :31:43. | :31:45. | |
the lessons even as innocent victims are treated and the families | :31:46. | :31:48. | |
We are hearing the lockdown of Parliament is over and the MPs who | :31:49. | :32:04. | |
have been at Westminster Abbey, moved from Parliament to Westminster | :32:05. | :32:08. | |
Abbey, now being put out of Westminster Abbey. Let's get the | :32:09. | :32:11. | |
latest from our political correspondent. We've had about 1000 | :32:12. | :32:18. | |
people inside Westminster Abbey, not just MPs and peers, catering staff | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
in their catering whites and other Parliamentary staff. They have been | :32:23. | :32:24. | |
going through a triage system and have been interviewed by the police | :32:25. | :32:27. | |
about what they saw, where they were and if they have any information | :32:28. | :32:31. | |
that could be useful for the investigation. People were told that | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
young people with children should go first, then the elderly and of | :32:36. | :32:38. | |
course everyone else. We are just hearing that the first few MPs are | :32:39. | :32:40. | |
starting to leave Westminster Abbey. At the same time, there have been | :32:41. | :32:57. | |
some tweets from politicians who are saying that the lockdown in | :32:58. | :32:59. | |
Westminster is now over. That should mean that those MPs who have been | :33:00. | :33:02. | |
locked in the chamber this afternoon should be allowed to go. We have | :33:03. | :33:05. | |
seen people leaving office blocks. Members who work around here have | :33:06. | :33:07. | |
been stuck in their offices this afternoon. They could just watch the | :33:08. | :33:09. | |
news and see what was happening. That is what we understand it | :33:10. | :33:11. | |
happening. Thanks. Adam Fleming, love of our political correspondence | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
is at the Abbey. What is going on? -- another one of our political | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
correspondents. After several hours of manners of Parliament and members | :33:21. | :33:23. | |
of the House of Lords and staff being locked in Westminster Abbey, | :33:24. | :33:29. | |
giving witness statements to the police, people are starting to | :33:30. | :33:32. | |
emerge after being in there for several hours. Dominic Grieve, the | :33:33. | :33:35. | |
former Attorney General said the atmosphere was very pleasant. People | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
were very calm. Gary Gardner, a member of the Shadow Cabinet for | :33:41. | :33:43. | |
labour said that he was impressed with the police operation and the | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
smoothness with which people were evacuated from Westminster. Lord | :33:48. | :33:48. | |
Pearson? Would you want a quick word with us? | :33:49. | :33:56. | |
No. MPs and peers just trying to get home. They have been in there for | :33:57. | :34:00. | |
couple of hours. They have been slowly let out and in groups. | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
Screened by the police before were allowed out. A whole cross-section | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
of people. Here is Chris Bryant, the Labour MP. You are live on BBC news. | :34:11. | :34:16. | |
Am I? What has it been like in the Abbey for the last couple of hours. | :34:17. | :34:19. | |
It feels like a very long time. You have been in there since 5pm. We | :34:20. | :34:23. | |
don't know very much news because nearly all of our... We don't have | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
mobile phones working or anything. My biggest sadness I understand that | :34:29. | :34:35. | |
there have been casualties. It is now concerned that there are four | :34:36. | :34:38. | |
deaths, today. Right. I don't know what happened to the police officer | :34:39. | :34:45. | |
concerned. We are just constantly aware that people sometimes put | :34:46. | :34:50. | |
themselves in harms way to protect us and to protect our of life. The | :34:51. | :34:54. | |
British way of life. I hope Parliament will be able to be up and | :34:55. | :34:57. | |
running tomorrow because we need to be able to show that nothing stops | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
British democracy. Nothing gets in the way of British democracy. You've | :35:03. | :35:06. | |
obviously being in a media blackout because the Commons authorities | :35:07. | :35:08. | |
tweeted that Parliament is normal tomorrow which I imagine you | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
welcome? It absolutely should be. Obviously, my heart goes out to the | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
people who have lost people and who will be worried. We've all been | :35:18. | :35:21. | |
getting lots of text messages and tweets asking if we are all right, | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
that kind of stuff. I want to pay tribute to the security services who | :35:27. | :35:29. | |
have done an amazing job today. We have maybe been getting a bit grumpy | :35:30. | :35:32. | |
because we are thinking, is this really necessary that we have no | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
idea what's been going on outside. Have people been released from | :35:38. | :35:41. | |
within the chamber yet? I'm not sure. I think you are the first | :35:42. | :35:46. | |
people to be allowed out from the secure area. Do you feel safe for | :35:47. | :35:49. | |
your own life as a member of Parliament after what has happened | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
today? That's the least of my considerations although I have been | :35:55. | :36:00. | |
saying for quite a long time that, you know, there are... Disturbing | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
and disturbed people, whether politically disturbed or whatever. | :36:05. | :36:07. | |
Disturbed people in the world, who want to do harm to our way of life. | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
Sometimes to individuals as well. Less than a year ago the Jo Cox was | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
murdered. We need to take necessary precautions to make sure that we | :36:18. | :36:23. | |
protect that which we value. As a whole country what we value. And, | :36:24. | :36:28. | |
also, just the idea that completely innocent civilians walking past who | :36:29. | :36:31. | |
have absolutely nothing to do with political life might have lost their | :36:32. | :36:36. | |
lives today. Very distressing. Chris Bryant, thank you. I'm freezing | :36:37. | :36:39. | |
cold! It's freezing in Westminster Abbey! Thank you. Chris Bryant, the | :36:40. | :36:44. | |
Labour MP reacting to events, telling us more about what it has | :36:45. | :36:49. | |
been like for MPs and peers, spending several hours at | :36:50. | :36:52. | |
Westminster Abbey. A bit of a communications blacked out, us | :36:53. | :36:54. | |
breaking the news to them about what has happened today. -- blackout. | :36:55. | :37:01. | |
Thank you. Adam Fleming with MPs, peers and staff who have been in | :37:02. | :37:08. | |
Westminster Abbey for several hours. We have just had a tweak in from | :37:09. | :37:11. | |
Kings College Hospital, which is treating a member of the injured | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
from today's incident. They are saying two of their patients are in | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
a critical condition. Six are in a stable condition. Ate together. | :37:22. | :37:25. | |
Others at other hospitals. Kings College Hospital and two in a | :37:26. | :37:33. | |
critical condition, six are stable. Let's talk to an eyewitness who, I | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
think, saw what happened, just across the road from Parliament | :37:39. | :37:44. | |
earlier on today. Tell us what you saw all heard, Cash Marley. I was | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
just on the bridge, opposite Big Ben. | :37:50. | :37:52. | |
I heard a commotion going on towards the bridge. I looked over and I saw | :37:53. | :37:58. | |
a bunch of screening people running away. Men. I saw somebody, over the | :37:59. | :38:04. | |
side of the bridge and land in the water. I didn't see them come back | :38:05. | :38:08. | |
up. And a bit after that, that's when I heard from gunshots. | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
Did you know this was a car hitting people on the bridge? No. At the | :38:14. | :38:21. | |
time I didn't have a clue what was going on, I would have got out of | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
there if I knew what was going on. You say you saw the person | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
jumping... Falling from the bridge into the river? Yeah. Yeah, I see | :38:31. | :38:36. | |
someone come over the side of the bridge. Slipping around and landed | :38:37. | :38:39. | |
in the water. I didn't see them come back up. We gather that was a woman | :38:40. | :38:48. | |
who was actually pulled, alive, from the water. She has serious injuries | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
but she was pulled alive from the water. When all of this was going | :38:53. | :38:55. | |
on, what was going through your mind? What were you thinking? I just | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
thought, this is crazy! I didn't know what was going on. I thought I | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
heard gunshots but I wasn't too sure. If I had heard a gun I would | :39:07. | :39:10. | |
have been out of there. I wasn't going to try to stick around. Cash | :39:11. | :39:17. | |
Marley, thank you very much indeed. Can I say something quickly as well | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
please? Thank you. Let's just bring your reaction from the United States | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
that's been coming in. We know that President Trump has been talking to | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
the Prime Minister, Theresa May, that the attack. Sean Spicer, the | :39:32. | :39:36. | |
White House press secretary has condemned the attack, let's have a | :39:37. | :39:37. | |
listen. We obviously condemn today's | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
attack on Westminster which the United Kingdom is treating | :39:43. | :39:43. | |
as an act of terrorism. We applaud the quick response | :39:44. | :39:46. | |
that the British police and the first responders made | :39:47. | :39:48. | |
to the situation. The victims in this are in our | :39:49. | :39:55. | |
thoughts and our prayers. The City of London and Her Majesty's | :39:56. | :39:58. | |
government have the full support of the US government, | :39:59. | :40:01. | |
responding to the attack and bringing those to justice | :40:02. | :40:03. | |
who are responsible. Sean Spicer, the White House press | :40:04. | :40:15. | |
secretary. Let's go to John Sobol. What has been the reaction from the | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
White House? There was deep shock when they heard that London had come | :40:21. | :40:22. | |
under attack but maybe not surprised. After all, there have | :40:23. | :40:27. | |
been attacks in Paris, Belgium and other places as well. It was only | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
natural we would get this response from the White House and Donald | :40:33. | :40:36. | |
Trump hasn't spoken to Theresa May. What marks it out from previous | :40:37. | :40:39. | |
attacks when Donald Trump wasn't in the White House is that there has | :40:40. | :40:44. | |
been known to eating from him saying, "I told you so, this is why | :40:45. | :40:49. | |
we need them measures to deal with radical Islamic terrorism as he | :40:50. | :40:53. | |
chooses to put trade. -- there has been no tweeting. Nothing of that | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
type. We would shoot to hear from Boris Johnson who was in Washington | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
for talks with Rex Tillerson, his American counterpart. There is a big | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
summit going on in the US in the fight against so-called Islamic | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
state. It was in the context of that but we were due to hear from them | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
but that has been called off. A lot of American reaction here is about | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
the consular business, just checking that Americans, who may be in | :41:22. | :41:24. | |
London, are safe and asking relatives to phone home. Thank you. | :41:25. | :41:30. | |
We are joined at the police cordoned just down the road from the Palace | :41:31. | :41:36. | |
of Westminster by the MPs Damian Collins, thank you for being with | :41:37. | :41:41. | |
us. How has it affected you over the last few hours, where were you when | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
it happened? I was with a group of probably 20 or 30 MPs walking | :41:46. | :41:48. | |
through from portcullis house to vote in the House of, is when a | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
division was called. The House of Commons. On the walkway I heard | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
shouts from the yard and then gunshots. The police were instantly | :42:00. | :42:02. | |
in control of the situation and we were told to get down onto the | :42:03. | :42:05. | |
floor. We were there for a short period of time and moved back into | :42:06. | :42:11. | |
portcullis house. We didn't see anything that had happened. And then | :42:12. | :42:17. | |
portcullis house was evacuated. Half an hour afterwards. There was an | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
effective lockdown. The police were on top of the situation very | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
quickly. You have it in lockdown for the last few hours and let go, as it | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
were? Yes. We were just told we could go, now. They have started the | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
process of evacuating the building. Lots of MPs and and lots of visitors | :42:37. | :42:42. | |
with meetings for MPs and visitors. Everyone was held together and | :42:43. | :42:45. | |
waiting for instructions from the police. What are your thoughts | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
tonight, an attack on the heart of British democracy. It's a terrible | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
incident. Our first thoughts are with the victims and their families. | :42:55. | :42:58. | |
A police officer killed in the line of duty, protecting Parliament and | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
the public. That time of day on Westminster Bridge, not a tourist | :43:04. | :43:06. | |
and international visitors, people going about their business and what | :43:07. | :43:09. | |
has happened today is a terrible tragedy -- a lot of tourists. Cobra | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
meeting tonight, the government emergency committee. What should be | :43:14. | :43:17. | |
the response of government? We obviously need to understand fully | :43:18. | :43:21. | |
what happened today, why it happened. Who was involved in it. | :43:22. | :43:24. | |
The security services do an excellent job and the way they | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
responded to the terrible events of today show that it is too early to | :43:29. | :43:33. | |
say. We gather one of your apology colleagues, Tobias Ellwood, was | :43:34. | :43:35. | |
actually involved in trying to save the life of the police officer who | :43:36. | :43:42. | |
died. We have been trying to follow as best we could the coverage of | :43:43. | :43:45. | |
what has happened today and piece together what happened. I have seen | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
pictures of Tobias and he was a former serving officer and is a | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
brave man. He clearly used his skills to try to help the others as | :43:54. | :43:56. | |
best he could. What should be the response in Parliament? We gather it | :43:57. | :43:59. | |
is sitting tomorrow. MPs and peers will sit tomorrow as normal. Is that | :44:00. | :44:04. | |
the right response? I think so. Including that the government want | :44:05. | :44:07. | |
to make a statement about what has happened today. What they know. What | :44:08. | :44:09. | |
the response will be. This is a terrible day. At the | :44:10. | :44:17. | |
business of Parliament must continue. Damian Collins, thank you | :44:18. | :44:23. | |
for talking to us. -- but the business. Damian Collins MP just | :44:24. | :44:25. | |
allowed out of the lockdown that there has been for the last few | :44:26. | :44:28. | |
hours around Westminster. We can now talk to Margaret Gilmore. Thank you | :44:29. | :44:37. | |
very much for being with us. What do you think are the security | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
applications of this attack, today? It came as absolutely no surprise. | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
There will be a working assumption amongst the security agencies that | :44:48. | :44:53. | |
this was a terrorist attack. They responded in a well practised way. | :44:54. | :44:57. | |
Further down the line, not in the next week or so, but further down | :44:58. | :45:05. | |
the line there will be a review. There is probably not a building | :45:06. | :45:07. | |
that is more secure than the Palace of Westminster. The streets around | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
Westminster, pedestrians are kept away from vehicles by bollards | :45:14. | :45:20. | |
everywhere apart from Westminster Bridge. There will be security | :45:21. | :45:24. | |
issues, reviews of security that the security response as things unfolded | :45:25. | :45:30. | |
was well practised. And carried out very well. | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
And what appears to have been an attack on civilians on the bridge, | :45:36. | :45:40. | |
using a vehicle, that has become... We saw it in Nice and Germany, that | :45:41. | :45:49. | |
has become a new method of attack. That car couldn't have got much | :45:50. | :45:53. | |
further attacking like that, it crashed into the walls, the fences | :45:54. | :45:56. | |
and fencing around the actual building. They are a long way from | :45:57. | :46:00. | |
the building. Had there been a bomb, as was feared, it would not have | :46:01. | :46:04. | |
affected the building, probably. But they found a weak link, heading that | :46:05. | :46:10. | |
way. Absolutely. It has all the signs of the type of things that | :46:11. | :46:14. | |
Isis in particular... We don't know, for sure, have been promoting. | :46:15. | :46:18. | |
Whether this person was inspired by ices, but they are a supporter, | :46:19. | :46:25. | |
whether they just went online or had other contacts, this is issues that | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
the police, now in charge of the criminal investigation, will really | :46:30. | :46:32. | |
be pursuing very, very carefully tonight. -- inspired by ices. | :46:33. | :46:35. | |
Of course, we are told so many times that MI5 and the security services | :46:36. | :46:44. | |
and counterterrorism police have intercepted a number of plots in the | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
last few years. 13 was the figure given. They have always said they | :46:49. | :46:54. | |
can't stop them all. 13 in the last three years. We are on the | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
second-highest security alert, meaning an attack is highly likely. | :47:00. | :47:03. | |
They can't follow everybody. Is quite likely that we will find out | :47:04. | :47:06. | |
that this guy somewhere along the line has been in touch with the | :47:07. | :47:09. | |
authorities in some way, whether it is petty crime, until health | :47:10. | :47:12. | |
problems, maybe he was on the radar but on a B list, as what happened | :47:13. | :47:18. | |
with the 7/7 bombers three years ago. But the vast majority of plots, | :47:19. | :47:22. | |
we need to know this, are being stopped. At one will always get | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
through and this is one. There will be very few. Sad for the victims | :47:27. | :47:32. | |
tonight. They are doing a good job but cannot stop everything. We have | :47:33. | :47:35. | |
been warned about it. This happening is not a surprise. Margaret Gilmore, | :47:36. | :47:42. | |
thank you. From the Royal United services Institute. Let's hear from | :47:43. | :47:47. | |
one of the eyewitnesses. Kevin Schofield, a political journalist | :47:48. | :47:49. | |
who saw what happened from his office window in Westminster. | :47:50. | :47:56. | |
First of all we heard a loud bang, similar to a car crash. | :47:57. | :47:59. | |
And we looked out, across Westminster Bridge | :48:00. | :48:01. | |
from our offices and there was a bit of a commotion, people running | :48:02. | :48:04. | |
around, shouting trying to work out what had happened. | :48:05. | :48:06. | |
We thought there might have been a bus crash, | :48:07. | :48:08. | |
there a lot of buses going up and down the road, | :48:09. | :48:11. | |
and the next thing I looked down at Carriage Gates | :48:12. | :48:13. | |
on the outer perimeter of the parliamentary estate. | :48:14. | :48:15. | |
These gates are secure all day, there's armed policemen, | :48:16. | :48:18. | |
you're only able to get in with a pass. | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
I saw a man basically who rushed through the gates, | :48:24. | :48:26. | |
stormed the gates, attacked a policeman, the | :48:27. | :48:27. | |
Another policemen went to approach him, the man then got up, | :48:28. | :48:31. | |
with his arm outstretched straight, looking like he had a knife | :48:32. | :48:34. | |
in his hand I think it was, holding it out, holding it | :48:35. | :48:37. | |
And then where they walked, I couldn't quite see, | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
I couldn't get a great vantage point, and then there | :48:42. | :48:44. | |
was lots of gunfire and that's obviously when we knew something | :48:45. | :48:47. | |
serious was under way and lots of armed police | :48:48. | :48:50. | |
I can see a car that's crashed into one of the gates on the side | :48:51. | :48:57. | |
of Westminster Bridge, that seems to be what the bang | :48:58. | :49:00. | |
was and I can see the car is still there right now, | :49:01. | :49:03. | |
That was Kevin Schofield, a political journalist who saw what | :49:04. | :49:18. | |
happened. Let's hear from another eyewitness, who was speaking to our | :49:19. | :49:22. | |
home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford little earlier. I was | :49:23. | :49:28. | |
coming out of the tube at Westminster at 245. It was clear | :49:29. | :49:30. | |
something happened. I was ushered onto Westminster | :49:31. | :49:31. | |
Bridge, but then I looked across to the West pavement | :49:32. | :49:33. | |
and there were bodies, people lying So I then moved up into the middle | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
of the bridge, looked further down the south side of the bridge | :49:38. | :49:44. | |
and it was clear there were also bodies, people lying on the floor | :49:45. | :49:47. | |
on the western pavement. When I spoke to someone who had | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
clearly been on the bridge at the time of the incident | :49:51. | :49:53. | |
they said that a car had mounted the pavement, or a vehicle, | :49:54. | :49:56. | |
and literally driven the whole way from south to north, up the bridge, | :49:57. | :49:58. | |
knocking people over. I counted eight people | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
the length of the bridge from south to north, | :50:03. | :50:04. | |
at least eight. One was clearly in a sort of shocked | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
moment, so you are not quite sure what is going on, | :50:09. | :50:12. | |
but as I looked up and down As I was standing there, | :50:13. | :50:15. | |
an ambulance came over, landed in Parliament Square and out | :50:16. | :50:20. | |
came an incredible number of security personnel, | :50:21. | :50:28. | |
both obviously from the Ambulance Service, paramedics, but also | :50:29. | :50:30. | |
suddenly plain clothes people, people with masks on, | :50:31. | :50:32. | |
people with machine guns. The quantity of armed | :50:33. | :50:38. | |
personnel arriving was very Then as I looked, there | :50:39. | :50:40. | |
were vehicles arriving from the embankment, | :50:41. | :50:48. | |
both police vehicles, vehicles with lights on and then | :50:49. | :50:49. | |
a grey van with a number In a sense, reassuring to know | :50:50. | :50:52. | |
that there were so many armed security personnel looking | :50:53. | :51:00. | |
after our safety so quickly after what was clearly | :51:01. | :51:02. | |
a pretty dramatic event. want to show you what is happening | :51:03. | :51:11. | |
behind us and the police called in. Quite a number of people | :51:12. | :51:21. | |
are leaving. They have been involved in this lockdown in Westminster ever | :51:22. | :51:25. | |
since the incident happened early on this afternoon. They have been stuck | :51:26. | :51:33. | |
inside for several hours. Only now allowed to leave. That includes MPs, | :51:34. | :51:37. | |
peers, clerical staff, canteen staff, all sorts of people. About | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
1000 people were kept in Westminster before the security and in the | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
Palace of Westminster. Only now allowed to go home. | :51:48. | :51:49. | |
Let's talk to Peter Power a former counter terrorism officer | :51:50. | :51:51. | |
with Scotland Yard who now consults on crisis management for situation | :51:52. | :51:54. | |
Thank you for being with us. What are your thoughts on what's happened | :51:55. | :52:05. | |
today? We shouldn't really be surprised. Some moments ago Margaret | :52:06. | :52:08. | |
Gilmore was talking about the first level, which equates to "An attack | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
is highly likely". We have been at that level for a month. There is a | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
threat fatigue because nothing has happened for so long. Secondly, a | :52:18. | :52:20. | |
few weeks ago, the government published a new app for everybody | :52:21. | :52:28. | |
with a mobile phone called Citizen Aid and this tells you what to do if | :52:29. | :52:33. | |
you are caught up in what police called a marauding terrorist attack. | :52:34. | :52:35. | |
But how many people know that? We saw last weekend the police had a | :52:36. | :52:42. | |
major counterterrorist exercise on the River Thames. Perhaps more | :52:43. | :52:49. | |
importantly, 168... 68 countries are meeting in Washington to discuss how | :52:50. | :52:53. | |
to defeat Islamic state. Take these things together and we really | :52:54. | :52:59. | |
shouldn't be surprised. When Mark Rowley, the senior police officer | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
stood outside of Scotland Yard and said "This is a day we have prepared | :53:04. | :53:06. | |
for" he is absolutely right. Stay with us. I want to show viewers | :53:07. | :53:15. | |
what is happening behind us. Lots of people who have been caught up in | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
the security lockdown at Westminster, who are now finally | :53:21. | :53:24. | |
being allowed to go home... By the police, after a long stint, where | :53:25. | :53:32. | |
they have been held... And not allowed to leave. | :53:33. | :53:36. | |
They are now able to go home. Let's go back to Peter, former | :53:37. | :53:43. | |
counterterrorism officer. We have heard, quite often, that a number of | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
plots in the last three years, I think 13, have been foiled, | :53:49. | :53:53. | |
intercepted, by the police and MI5. But, obviously, they can't stop them | :53:54. | :53:57. | |
all. No, they can't. Let's remember, the radar screen applied by MI6 and | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
MI5 and the police and so on is countries of two things. We don't | :54:04. | :54:07. | |
live in a police state, we cannot stop people without suspicion -- is | :54:08. | :54:12. | |
conscious of two things. What is happening now, terrorists are | :54:13. | :54:15. | |
resorting to using things you might find in your kitchen or garage, they | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
are not using explosives. It is quite easy for terrorists to get | :54:21. | :54:23. | |
very close with nothing more than a knife or simply driving a car. | :54:24. | :54:30. | |
Suddenly, they become weapons. Things have changed. Essentially, we | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
go through three stages of mayhem, mastermind and manhunt. Mayhem, the | :54:35. | :54:38. | |
sheer terror and confusion. Mastermind, who can we find to tell | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
us what is going on? Manhunt, who can we blame? As we talk this | :54:44. | :54:46. | |
evening, we not entirely sure that the finger were generally be | :54:47. | :54:49. | |
pointing towards people who would like to be associated with so-called | :54:50. | :54:54. | |
Islamic State. On this very day, though 68 countries are meeting in | :54:55. | :54:57. | |
Washington to discuss how to defeat Islamic State. | :54:58. | :55:03. | |
Peter, thank you for talking to us, a former counterterrorism officer | :55:04. | :55:07. | |
with Scotland Yard. Still, people now emerging from this | :55:08. | :55:14. | |
lockdown at Westminster. Just over my left shoulder, you can see | :55:15. | :55:19. | |
hundreds of people in the last few minutes, they have been finally able | :55:20. | :55:23. | |
to leave, allowed to leave by the police after being held in the | :55:24. | :55:29. | |
Westminster area. About 1000 of them in Westminster Abbey. Including MPs, | :55:30. | :55:36. | |
peers and office staff. Others held in their offices where they work in | :55:37. | :55:41. | |
Westminster. That is the latest from here. The Metropolitan Police now | :55:42. | :55:46. | |
saying that four people have died, including the assailant. Also, the | :55:47. | :55:50. | |
police officer who was stabbed. A woman and another casualty on | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
Westminster Bridge. In total, 20 people have been injured. They are | :55:56. | :55:59. | |
being treated at a number of hospitals. Some are critically ill | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
this evening. That is the latest from Westminster. You are watching | :56:05. | :56:05. | |
BBC news. We will have much more coverage live | :56:06. | :56:16. | |
from Westminster that the | :56:17. | :56:17. |