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Good morning. The nation will shortly pause to observe a minutes' | :00:07. | :00:12. | |
silence in memory of those who died when fire broke out five days ago at | :00:13. | :00:18. | |
Grenfell Tower in Kensington in North London. The Metropolitan | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
Police say they believe 79 people lost their lives in the fire, the | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
worst in our recent history. Police say conditions inside the building | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
were indescribable and the challenge facing them, as they searched the | :00:32. | :00:34. | |
tower to recover those people still inside and return them to their | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
loved ones, could take weeks to complete. The nationwide silence is | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
being held across all Government buildings and around the UK people | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
are gathering to show their respect to those who died and all those | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
affected by the fire. The nation then observing a minutes | :00:50. | :03:19. | |
silence for those who lost their lives and all those affected by the | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
fire in Grenfell Tower in West London. Police now say 79 people are | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
believed to have died. There'll be further coverage from Grenfell Tower | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
on BBC One and the BBC News Channel and we'll bring you any updates from | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
the police and emergency services as soon as we have them. | :03:38. | :03:51. | |
The Prime Minister is chairing a meeting of the Grenfell recovery | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
tower Task Force. We'll bring you updates throughout the morning. | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
Another community in shock this morning. One man dead and ten people | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
injured after a van was driven into worshippers outside a mosque in | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
Finsbury park. A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted | :04:09. | :04:11. | |
murder. Theresa May's held a meeting of the cobra emergency committee in | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
response to that attack, now described as a terrorist attack. We | :04:15. | :04:17. | |
can go live to the scene now and join my colleague, Ben Brown who is | :04:18. | :04:19. | |
there. This is BBC News, I'm Ben Brown live | :04:20. | :04:32. | |
in Finsbury park where police are investigating the third terror | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
attack in London in three months. Once again, a vehicle was used to | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
target people as a van was driven at speed into a crowd of Muslim | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
worshippers close to a mosque. One person has died, ten have been | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
injured. By standers pin down the terror | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
suspect beforehanding him over to the police. When he was running, he | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
said he was going to kill more people because he was going like | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
this with his hand. I asked him, why do you do that, you know, why? | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
Innocent people. He goes, I want to kill Muslims. | :05:10. | :05:16. | |
A 48-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. | :05:17. | :05:47. | |
Good morning to you from Finsbury Park in North London where one man | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
has died and ten people have been injured. Two of them seriously after | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
a man drove a van into worshippers at a mosque near here where we are. | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
The van hit people after mounting a pavement. Just after Midnight at the | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
Muslim welfare house mosque close to the Finsbury Park mosque. A | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
48-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
Scotland Yard and the Home Secretary Amber Rudd both saying that it's | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
being treated as a terrorist incident, Counter-Terrorism officers | :06:26. | :06:28. | |
are here at the scene investigating right now. The Mayor of London, | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
Sadiq Khan, said the attack is "an assault on all of our shared values | :06:34. | :06:41. | |
of tolerance, freedom and respect. " We are going to hear from some | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
eyewitnesses who spoke to my colleague Joanna Gosling earlier. | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
We were here last night, came out for prayers, there was loads of | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
Muslims on the street. The van ploughed into them and then the | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
drive was eventually dragged out of the car on to the floor, people were | :06:58. | :07:00. | |
hitting him and punching with him because they were angry with his | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
actions. The Imam came out and said, do not hit him, pin him down and | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
call the police, which is the right thing to do. He's given us good | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
words of advice but still as Muslims today, we are victimised and store | :07:14. | :07:16. | |
owe typed and ladies and gentemened as terrorists when we are not. | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
Muslims don't feel safe walking the streets of Britain. Were you in the | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
group of people around the man when he was taken out of the van? Yes. | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
What was that like? Was he trying to stay in the van? It was a struggle | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
to get him out. Eventually he was pinned to the floor and people were | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
beating him up because they were angry residents about his actions. | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
Once he was pinned down, the police came but the response time was | :07:45. | :07:47. | |
actually too long. I spoke to the police on the other side of the | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
police and asked why it took so long when the London Bridge incident it | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
was four minutes' response time, Lee Rigby response time 6 minutes, it | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
took far longer today and the Metropolitan Police have to answer | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
that, why it took so long. I have video footage of a Somalian woman on | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
the floor covered in blood. The ambulance took 40 minutes to come. I | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
asked the policeman and he said, I can't disclose any information. I | :08:15. | :08:17. | |
spoke to another officer and he said to me, it was because it was | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
reported as a collision, a driver's crashed, therefore it wasn't a | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
priority. When did people think that it was something other than an | :08:27. | :08:32. | |
accidental collision? Everyone was confused thinking maybe the driver | :08:33. | :08:35. | |
slipped up, crashed, using his phone or something. When we saw the | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
violence, he was building up speed towards us to plough into us, it was | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
a reaction of what happened to London Bridge. It was a premeditated | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
attack. He specifically picked Finsbury Park, predominantly a | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
Muslim area, highly populated, he knew exactly what time prayers were | :08:54. | :08:56. | |
finishing and he came out and specifically run the Muslims over. | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
It's not fair on Muslims, we are already victimised as it is, we | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
don't feel safe, who is going to want to go the mosque now looking | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
behind our backs just to practise our religion. We are living in fear | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
and we shouldn't have to live like this. | :09:12. | :09:18. | |
We have heard from the Commissioner of The Metropolitan Police, Cressida | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
Dick saying London is a city of many faiths and nationalities, an attack | :09:24. | :09:26. | |
on one community is an attack on us all. She said terrorists would not | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
succeed in their attempts to divide us and to make us live in fear. That | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
was from the Commissioner of The Metropolitan Police, Cressida Dick, | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
also from the deputy assistant commissioner Neil Basu saying there | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
would be extra police patrols in all communities in London, particularly | :09:45. | :09:47. | |
though those marking Ramadan. Let's get this report on the latest from | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
Richard Galpin. Hit by a van which ploughed into the | :09:51. | :10:09. | |
crowd, leaving many casualties. He basically drove on the pavement, | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
coming straight towards all the Muslims and he, as he was coming to | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
them, he hit all of them. I was coming from the shops and I saw a | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
large crowd of people on the palement. I learnt after, a van that | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
was standing out by the traffic lights, was the van that mowed the | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
people down. The crowd managed to catch the van driver, pinning him | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
down before he could escape. These pictures appear to show the | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
suspect being detained by the police. This is being treated as a | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
terrorist attack and the Counter Terrorism Commander is | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
investigating. This was an attack on London and all Londoners and we | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
should all stand together against extremists whatever their cause. In | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
the aftermath of the attack, some started praying on the streets. This | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Amongst the community here, there | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
have been some accusations that the authorities were slow to call this a | :11:13. | :11:15. | |
terrorist attack. But this is being denied by the | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
Government. It was treated immediately as a | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
suspected terrorist attack. We must allow the police to deal with the | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
facts and they will make sure that they madeth make those facts | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
available as soon as they can. Our priority must be to support the | :11:31. | :11:33. | |
people who've been the victims of this and to make sure the | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
investigation is done with all due speed and professionalism. | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
This morning, the area remains sealed off, as the police | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
investigation continues. Already, there are plans to increase security | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
around mosques. Each borough commander across London, there are | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
32 boroughs we are talking about, we'll make sure there are additional | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
uniformed officers around mosques. Some of that is from people being | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
brought back off leave to make sure we are keeping everyone safe. | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
Towards the end of the month of Ramadan, it's the highest part of | :12:11. | :12:13. | |
the month with more and more worshippers going to mosque, | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
particularly in the evenings. We don't want to make anybody think | :12:18. | :12:20. | |
they can't go about their life through feeling vulnerable or | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
scared. Muslim leaders say there have been many incidents of | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
Islamophobia, following the attacks in Manchester and London, by | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
Islamist extremists. What's happened in Finsbury park now is by far the | :12:33. | :12:34. | |
worst. Richard Galpin, BBC News. Counterterrorist officers are here. | :12:35. | :12:52. | |
Let's talk to the former head of the national Counter-Terrorism Serious | :12:53. | :12:54. | |
Fraud Office who joins me at the scene. What will Counter-Terrorism | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
officers be doing now? It's similar to other attacks, similar to other | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
attacks, therefore they need to get as much evidence as they can about | :13:06. | :13:08. | |
what's happened at the scene, witnesses and things like that, but | :13:09. | :13:11. | |
also the forensics that go along with that. The most important thing | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
again is, just because this person was in the van on his own, it | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
doesn't mean he's acted alone. It's important they track down anyone | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
linked to him in any way. Luckily they've arrested him, they've got | :13:24. | :13:26. | |
him in custody, so that should be easy to find out. Also of course his | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
motives because that's very important from the terrorist | :13:31. | :13:33. | |
perspective. So trying to find out if it's a wider conspiracy, not just | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
him acting alone? Yes, and to all intents and purposes, at the moment, | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
it looks like it's him acting alone, but we don't know, there may be | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
other people involved in and and how did he come to do this. There is a | :13:48. | :13:51. | |
big difference between a lone actor and a person who is part of a wider | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
network and it's important for the police to identify that, tie that | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
down and get won the job of taking the man to court. We have seen a | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
vehicle, it seems, attacking pedestrians. It appears to be the | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
new method, if you like, of terrorist attacks? Of course, it's | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
very simple and it's an easy thing to copy cat. Men and you could do | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
out in a car and decide to do that if we were inclined. Very difficult | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
for the police to do anything about unless they have prior intelligence | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
about that and we have a lot of people out there that might be so | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
inclined. Unfortunately, it's an easy thing to do and it's something | :14:31. | :14:33. | |
we might have to deal with in the future. How stretched do you think | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
Scotland Yard would be? Right now they have had so much to deal with | :14:38. | :14:40. | |
in the last few months, the Westminster attack, the London | :14:41. | :14:46. | |
Bridge attack, the Grenfell Tower as well. Police have been put on the | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
Grenfell Tower issue so I don't know how the Government can go ahead with | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
the further cuts coming up for the police perhaps this year, really the | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
Government needs to tell the police here and now that those cuts cannot | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
go ahead, in fact they need more money to keep us safe, because the | :15:04. | :15:07. | |
police, as we stand, are so stretched. Part of the reason | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
perhaps that the response was a bit lax here overnight was because these | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
officers have been working so hard all this last few weeks. Scotland | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
Yard saying they were on the scene pretty quickly within ten minutes | :15:23. | :15:24. | |
certainly of the first call. Chris Phillips, thank you very much | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
indeed, former head of the Counter-Terrorism office. Norman | :15:31. | :15:33. | |
Smith has the latest from Downing Street. Norman. | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
Thank you very much. That cobra meeting bringing together all the | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
emergency services, Intelligence Services, local authority, all the | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
key players. I think that has now actually finished because we saw the | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
Home Secretary Amber Rudd leaving a short time ago. They'll have been | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
trying to work out - if you look behind me actually, they are | :15:55. | :15:58. | |
bringing out a lectern, that will be for the Prime Minister to make a | :15:59. | :16:01. | |
statement I would think in the next sort of 15 minutes or so. An | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
important statement from the Prime Minister and how she calibrates this | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
because she's faced a lot of criticism in the wake of the | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
Grenfell Tower disaster, so she'll want to catch the rights mood and | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
strike the right note. Obviously a very different response to the | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
aftermath of the London Bridge attack when you will remember the | :16:26. | :16:28. | |
Prime Minister gave that speech about enough is enough and she's set | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
out a series of measures to confront Islamist extremism. Now of course | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
she's having to address terrorism directed, it seems, at the Muslim | :16:39. | :16:41. | |
community. Then she was talking about a series of policy | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
initiatives, for example, beefing up TPims, the security orders placed on | :16:48. | :16:50. | |
terror suspects. She talked about trying to make it easier to deport | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
people even suggesting maybe opting out of elements of the Human Rights | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
Act to make it easier to pursue such policies. Today a different sort of | :17:01. | :17:09. | |
statement, the Prime Minister will want to stress terrorism is | :17:10. | :17:11. | |
terrorism from wherever it comes, but also a moment when I expect she | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
will want to offer some words of reassurance because this is the | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
fourth terrorist incident we have had in the last three months, the | :17:21. | :17:28. | |
third in London. So just to try and reassure people that they can still | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
go about their daily lives. The other area which of course is going | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
to be a focus of a lot of attention will be resources, are there | :17:39. | :17:41. | |
sufficient police resources to deal with this threat we now seem to | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
face? The Home Secretary saying earlier that she did not believe | :17:46. | :17:50. | |
resources were an issue and the emergency services were satisfied | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
with what they have got. We know in the wake of the London Bridge attack | :17:55. | :17:57. | |
there was a degree of criticism of the fact that 20,000 police officers | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
have been cut over the period of the last five or six years, although the | :18:03. | :18:05. | |
Home Secretary is believed now the home, emergency services have | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
sufficient resources but she said that would be kept under review. | :18:11. | :18:16. | |
Norman, we have had this succession of terrible events, London, | :18:17. | :18:25. | |
Westminster Bridge, London Bridge, the Grenfell Tower disaster, and now | :18:26. | :18:27. | |
this, that would be enough to test the mettle of any Prime Minister and | :18:28. | :18:35. | |
any government. Sure, these are extraordinarily | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
difficult, turbulence and daunting times and unsettling times. That's | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
why I say it is so imperative the Prime Minister manages to strike the | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
right tone, that as Prime Minister she manages to give voice, perhaps, | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
yes, to the sense of horror and grievance, but also just to reassure | :18:54. | :19:00. | |
people that our way of life can continue, people can go about their | :19:01. | :19:03. | |
daily business, the police are putting an additional resources, | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
just to strike the right national mood. Interesting too I thought that | :19:09. | :19:11. | |
Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary has been down to Finsbury | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
Park. He said it was his first instinct is to go down there. We | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
don't know whether Theresa May will go there but Sajid Javid has been | :19:22. | :19:24. | |
there. Also interesting trying to reassure people there about the | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
police response about which there has been criticism on the ground | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
describing it as thorough and professional. He said the police had | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
been on the site within a couple of minutes, which would be a very swift | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
response indeed, but clearly he feels the police did manage to | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
respond very, very swiftly to the first reports of the attack in | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
Finsbury Park. We should get more details about the Government's | :19:51. | :19:52. | |
overall response shortly from the Prime Minister. | :19:53. | :20:00. | |
OK, Norman, thank you. Norman Smith, Assistant political editor. Some | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
police officers in the vicinity responded almost immediately and | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
others within about ten minutes of the first emergency cool, at | :20:09. | :20:16. | |
12:21am. The community secretary Sajid Javid has been here and Jeremy | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
Corbyn was here overnight for a considerable amount of time saying | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
he was shocked by this horrific and cruel attack and is expected to come | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
a bit later on to attend prayers at the Finsbury Park Mosque just down | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
the road from here. Let's talk to somebody who witnessed the aftermath | :20:35. | :20:36. | |
of what happened here. Joining me now is the BBC | :20:37. | :20:37. | |
reporter Abdirahim Saeed. He works for the BBC World Service. | :20:38. | :20:48. | |
Tell us what you saw and heard. I arrived just what looks like after | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
the incident has happened. I was driving from central London into | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
North London to my home address and by pure coincidence I saw a huge | :20:59. | :21:02. | |
amount of police cars and ambulances trying to get through, and just like | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
others I made my way, opened the way for them and we came through and I | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
passed the incident, or the location of what happened on my left hand | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
side and immediately looked to my left and realised something was not | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
right. There were just too many people shouting, disorganised, and I | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
immediately chose to park my car at the next left and came back perhaps | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
30 steps, walked back, and I saw one of the most horrific scenes. I saw a | :21:29. | :21:34. | |
couple of bodies motionless, not moving. Two men, their clothes were | :21:35. | :21:43. | |
bloodied. I spoke to people and I said, what did you see? More than | :21:44. | :21:51. | |
one person confirmed. One person said I saw everything from a to Z. | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
He said, do you see that white van behind us? There was a white van | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
just across the bodies and I was told eventually there were eight | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
bodies minimum on the ground and one person told me, can you see that | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
Van? That van took an immediate swerve left and mowed into a group | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
of people. This was a side road, dead-end, there is a local cafe. I | :22:13. | :22:19. | |
asked more than once, I was told that the Islamic community normally | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
congregates there. To give you context, there are a couple of | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
mosques around here, the nearest one is 30 seconds away. Remember that | :22:27. | :22:29. | |
this is the last few days of Ramadan, a lot of people would have | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
been leaving that mask, performing their last prayers in the evening | :22:34. | :22:36. | |
very late in the day and probably they have either finished, or they | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
were taking a break at the cafe, so there were lots of people milling | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
around that area and it was very busy. | :22:45. | :22:45. | |
So the people you saw lying on the floor, what we know was ten people | :22:46. | :22:52. | |
were injured and two seriously, say the police command one man who died. | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
He was already being treated, we are told, perhaps for a heart condition, | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
that's when the van struck the people they're treating that man. | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
The actual suspected attack happened not in front of the two mosques, | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
although the two mosques are very nearby, a few seconds walk, they | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
happened a few seconds walk from the side road at the cafe. What more | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
than one person told me is there was an old gentleman, lots of people | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
described him as an Asian man, he wasn't feeling well and he collapsed | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
at the side road. A lot of people who were just leaving the mosque and | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
other people, Muslims and non-Muslims, tried to help him so | :23:32. | :23:34. | |
lots of people were gathered around him. And I have been told, just as | :23:35. | :23:40. | |
that happened that van just drove through. You've been here for quite | :23:41. | :23:43. | |
a few hours. What do you sense is the mood of the community? How much | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
anger is there? I didn't leave immediately, I stayed there for an | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
hour, until the police got there, but when I arrived there was no | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
police cordoned, people were dealing with the immediate aftermath and I | :23:58. | :24:00. | |
had access to the scene. Fortunately there were people already performing | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
CPR, and also by that time a few of the ambulance crews had also | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
arrived. I spoke to people, I spoke to many people. Some saw exacting | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
what happened and some were quite worried. Lot people were quite | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
shocked initially, has this really happened here? A lot of people just | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
had their mouths covered, gasping, can't believe what just happened, | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
and later on people started opening up. Given the circumstances, the | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
number of people that were on the ground, given the fact a lot of | :24:34. | :24:36. | |
people said I did not see it myself but came soon after, a lot of people | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
said the man was apprehended. We have confirmation on the police but | :24:43. | :24:46. | |
his identity has not been confirmed. A lot of people said he was a white | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
man. Given that, given what he uttered, I did not see that and I | :24:53. | :24:55. | |
did not hear him but he uttered anti-Muslim, antique Islamic, -- | :24:56. | :25:04. | |
anti-Islamic, Islamophobic slogans. Things moved from shock into | :25:05. | :25:07. | |
condemnation. This should not be happening. A lot of people said they | :25:08. | :25:15. | |
are looking for swift and fast condemnation from politicians. They | :25:16. | :25:17. | |
should not be waiting. Very good to talk to you, thank you for being | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
with us, Abdirahim Saeed, who saw the aftermath of what happened, | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
works for the BBC World Service. We spoke to Abdul-Rahman earlier, who | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
said the man from the van, the driver, said kill all Muslims and | :25:33. | :25:35. | |
this eyewitness was one of several people who hit him and pinned him to | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
the ground and a local imam came and told them just keep hold of the man | :25:42. | :25:49. | |
until the police arrived. The imams appealed for calm. That's the latest | :25:50. | :25:53. | |
from here at the scene. We know that after this attack which is being | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
treated as a suspected terror attack by counterterror officers who are | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
here on the scene, one man has died, ten are injured, two seriously. We | :26:03. | :26:05. | |
expect a statement from the Prime Minister at about 11:30am. This is | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
the scene in Downing Street. We will bring that to you live as soon as | :26:12. | :26:19. | |
the Prime Minister appears from No 10 with the statement on this latest | :26:20. | :26:21. | |
terror attack to strike the United Kingdom, the fourth in four months. | :26:22. | :26:24. | |
That's it from Finsbury Park, back to Rebecca in the studio. | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
Thank you, Ben. More on the Grenfell Tower fire now. Police say 79 people | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
are either dead or missing and presumed dead. Home affairs | :26:37. | :26:38. | |
correspondent Dominic De McDonagh Cassie Arnie is at new Scotland | :26:39. | :26:41. | |
Yard. We have heard from the Metropolitan Police within the last | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
hour. It has been a very grim update. | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
It has indeed, it's been really quite grim, Commander Stuart Cundy | :26:51. | :26:58. | |
in charge of this incredibly large operation, 250 investigators now | :26:59. | :27:03. | |
working on this operation to try and recover the remains of those killed | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
in this fire. And also secure the scene and understand what has | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
happened. A little while ago Commander Stuart Cundy came out to | :27:14. | :27:16. | |
give us an update on those figures. Let's hear what he said. Over the | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
last 48 hours are investigators have been working tirelessly and working | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
with families to establish just how many we believe are missing from | :27:26. | :27:36. | |
Grenfell Tower. And as of this morning, I'm afraid to say there are | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
now 79 people who we believe are either dead or missing, and I have | :27:42. | :27:53. | |
sadly to presume are dead. Of that 79 we have formally identified five | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
people. We are supporting the families and loved ones of each of | :27:59. | :28:07. | |
those 79. With the agreement of the families and the coroner, once we | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
have confirmed identities of those who have died we will be releasing | :28:12. | :28:20. | |
their names. Now, sadly, for many families they have lost more than | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
one family member and my heart truly goes out to them. | :28:26. | :28:32. | |
Commander Stuart Cundy there. You got a sense of the emotion in his | :28:33. | :28:35. | |
own voice. He went into Grenfell Tower on Saturday morning with his | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
team and he told us that he simply couldn't find the words to describe | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
the devastation he saw in there, the absolutely appalling scene from flat | :28:45. | :28:49. | |
to flat, from floor to floor as he went through the building from top | :28:50. | :28:52. | |
to bottom to get a sense of how awful this fire had been. I will | :28:53. | :28:55. | |
give you a sense of how difficult it is now going to be for the police to | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
move forward in terms of identifying all of the 79, and potentially other | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
victims as well, if these figures change. The police have already | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
worked out that there may have to go abroad, they may have to try and | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
retrieve dental records from overseas, quite simply because so | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
many people who lived in Grenfell began their lives in another part of | :29:18. | :29:21. | |
the world. That in itself will delay the investigation and enormous | :29:22. | :29:24. | |
amount as well. The criminal investigation, this site is also | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
very important, the police say they are looking at potentially all types | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
of criminal offences and they are breaking the investigation down into | :29:33. | :29:35. | |
three parts. They are going to be looking at how the building was | :29:36. | :29:38. | |
managed and maintained down the years, its fire safety record and | :29:39. | :29:42. | |
the procedure is there to manage if I should an emergency happen and | :29:43. | :29:48. | |
finally the reconstruction and refurbishment of Grenfell Tower | :29:49. | :29:51. | |
which has been at centre of a great deal of speculation over the last | :29:52. | :29:54. | |
few days. Commander Stuart Cundy said it would be a far-reaching | :29:55. | :29:57. | |
investigation but he would not put a figure on how long it will take. In | :29:58. | :30:00. | |
terms of the recovery of the victims that take many weeks. Thanks, | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
Dominic, Dominic Casciani, home affairs correspondent. | :30:06. | :30:09. | |
Footage has emerged of firefighters on their way to the blaze last | :30:10. | :30:13. | |
Wednesday morning and some viewers may find this distressing. | :30:14. | :30:20. | |
Jesus, Christ, mate. If that has got a lot of people in it... EXPLETIVE | :30:21. | :30:37. | |
Jesus Christ. My God! There's kids in there! | :30:38. | :30:48. | |
Its towering Inferno, isn't it? How is that possible? It has jumped up | :30:49. | :30:59. | |
all the way along the flats, look. How the EXPLETIVE is that possible? | :31:00. | :31:05. | |
How has that happened? Footage of firefighters on their way to the | :31:06. | :31:07. | |
blaze at Grenfell Tower last Wednesday morning. More now on the | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
attack at Finsbury Park Mosque and let's returned to my colleague Ben | :31:13. | :31:13. | |
Brown who is there. Thank you. We are expecting a | :31:14. | :31:21. | |
statement in Downing Street in the next few minutes from the Prime | :31:22. | :31:24. | |
Minister on this latest terror attack to hit the United Kingdom and | :31:25. | :31:28. | |
to hit London as well. We'll bring that to you as soon as she appears | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
out of Number Ten. But first of all, let's talk to Professor Andrew Silk | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
here at the scene, director of terrorism studies at the University | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
of East London. So, Andrew, we've got another attack, again using a | :31:42. | :31:45. | |
vehicle, one person dead, ten injured. What are your thoughts | :31:46. | :31:50. | |
about this attack? Well, it's the latest in a series of lethal | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
incidents in the UK and I think one of the lessons that comes from it is | :31:55. | :31:58. | |
just how easy it is to carry out fatal attacks. You don't need to | :31:59. | :32:03. | |
acquire weapons, you don't need to make them, you just need a vehicle | :32:04. | :32:07. | |
to go out and kill people. One of the concerns, of course, is the | :32:08. | :32:12. | |
motivation this time seems to be more right-wing reactionary and that | :32:13. | :32:20. | |
kind of feeds into the whole, if you want, extremists and means we are | :32:21. | :32:23. | |
more likely to see more attacks than less and it ramps up the | :32:24. | :32:25. | |
temperature. There is a fear that there is an element of copy cat in | :32:26. | :32:31. | |
this isn't there, once you see a vehicle being used, you copy it? | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
Yes, absolutely. In the UK it's not easy to get hold of firearms and | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
weapons, that's something a lot of terrorist groups have struggled | :32:40. | :32:42. | |
with. What we see now is, the solution is, use a vehicle, knives, | :32:43. | :32:46. | |
something that you can acquire cheaply and quickly without | :32:47. | :32:48. | |
attracting suspicion and then you can go out and carry out an attack. | :32:49. | :32:55. | |
This isn't an Islamist motivated assault, this is coming from a | :32:56. | :32:59. | |
completely different direction, but it's using the merits that have been | :33:00. | :33:04. | |
used in other types of attacks and that's a real worry. The police | :33:05. | :33:07. | |
investigating here will want to know whether this man was acting alone or | :33:08. | :33:11. | |
was acting with others or with the help of others? Absolutely. It will | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
be the same cape of questions like we were looking at with Manchester | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
and Westminster, is this an isolated individual or someone with | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
connection to a network. If it's right-wing extremism, there are more | :33:25. | :33:27. | |
isolated individuals coming from that direction and don't have the | :33:28. | :33:31. | |
same profile that we see with the Islamist attackers, so we'd expect | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
some differences but it's still politically motivated violence, it's | :33:36. | :33:38. | |
still going to be terrorism if that's what the agenda was by the | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
perpetrator. The UK had gone for a number of years without any major | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
attacks since 7/7 and we've had what, four in three or four months? | :33:47. | :33:53. | |
Yes, this is a particularly bad period, arguely the worst since 2005 | :33:54. | :33:56. | |
when there were a lot of plots coming. There are big question marks | :33:57. | :34:03. | |
over why is it so bad now, why is it happening one reason you could look | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
at is Islamic state. Then there is the counterreaction from the far | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
right which is either stirred up or feeding into it. The result is, as | :34:14. | :34:19. | |
the violence gets worse, the likelihood of more attacks | :34:20. | :34:21. | |
increases. It puts the Security Services under a lot of pressure. | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
The Prime Minister's talked a lot about the dangers of hate online and | :34:27. | :34:30. | |
trying to crack down on that. What is your view of that and what the | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
authorities can do? The role of online in terms of driving | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
radicalisation and extremism, it plays a role and is there in the | :34:40. | :34:43. | |
background. In most cases we find there are real world issues | :34:44. | :34:46. | |
happening, so it's friends, family, personal experiences and it's not | :34:47. | :34:52. | |
just happening in somebody's bedroom while they're surfing the net. | :34:53. | :34:55. | |
That's part of the problem but it's not, I would argue, the biggest | :34:56. | :35:01. | |
part. Very good to talk to you, thank you very much. Cobra has been | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
meeting. That is the Government's emergency committee which has been | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
meeting or seems to be meeting pretty regularly sadly these days | :35:12. | :35:14. | |
and we are going to hear very soon we think from the Prime Minister in | :35:15. | :35:18. | |
Downing Street. Let's go to our assistant Political Editor, Norman | :35:19. | :35:24. | |
Smith again. They've become almost routine, these cobra meetings? I'm | :35:25. | :35:28. | |
afraid they have in recent weeks and months, Ben. They follow a familiar | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
format of trying to pull together all the information that we know | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
about these attacks and then two, I suppose, main elements, one is | :35:37. | :35:39. | |
reassurance and the other is security. Obviously given this is | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
the third terror attack in London in as many months, there will be a need | :35:46. | :35:49. | |
to offer a sense of confidence that people can go about their daily | :35:50. | :35:55. | |
lives, that business and work and everything continues as normal. At | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
the same time, there has to be an awareness that additional security | :36:01. | :36:05. | |
will be put in the right place. We heard from Sajid Javid saying | :36:06. | :36:11. | |
there'll be a more visible profile jute side mosques. Amber Rudd | :36:12. | :36:17. | |
flagging up too that there is money available to places of worship to | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
apply for grants to improve the security around those premises. That | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
is going to be continued. For those mosques and churches which feel for | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
one reason or another that they are at risk. A lot of focus too I | :36:32. | :36:35. | |
imagine will be on resources because, in the wake of the London | :36:36. | :36:39. | |
Bridge attack, there was a lot of concern about whether cuts to police | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
numbers had impacted on the ability of the police, forgot just to patrol | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
the streets but to gather intelligence about potential | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
threats. Then when we hear from the Prime Minister, interesting in a | :36:55. | :36:57. | |
number of ways, one obviously is a lot of pressure on the Prime | :36:58. | :37:00. | |
Minister to get the tone right, to strike the right note given that a | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
good deal of the criticism she's faced in the wake of the Grenfell | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
Tower, so there'll be an imperative on striking the right note to be | :37:10. | :37:13. | |
suitably empathetic. Interesting too because the last time the Prime | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
Minister spoke here in the wake of a terror attack, in the wake of London | :37:18. | :37:22. | |
bridge, she set out a series of steps directed at Islamist extreme | :37:23. | :37:25. | |
it. . She talked about trying to reduce the number of safe spaces for | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
intolerance and extremism to breed and she talked about, in the public | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
sector in particular, citing examples in schools and Local | :37:37. | :37:39. | |
Government where she felt there would been far too much tolerance of | :37:40. | :37:43. | |
extremism for too long. Today of course we have a different sort of | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
terrorist attack, directed specifically at Muslims. Mrs May no | :37:50. | :37:55. | |
doubt will want to we flect that and I imagine she will want to stress | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
her belief that terrorism is terrorism wherever it comes from and | :38:00. | :38:03. | |
whichever community it is directed against. Interesting too, Ben, to | :38:04. | :38:07. | |
see whether the Prime Minister chooses to go down to Finsbury Park | :38:08. | :38:16. | |
now we don't know. She didn't meet some of the relatives and survivors | :38:17. | :38:22. | |
of the Grenfell Tower fire. We know Sajid Javid has been down to | :38:23. | :38:32. | |
Finsbury Park, he said it was his first instinct to go down there. | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
We'll see whether Mrs May goes down there. I would imagine that is | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
something that is being thought through inside Number Ten. | :38:42. | :38:48. | |
All right, Norman, back with you as soon as the Prime Minister emerges, | :38:49. | :38:51. | |
of course, in treat. Let's in the meantime talk here at the scene in | :38:52. | :38:55. | |
Finsbury Park where we know after this attack one person is dead, ten | :38:56. | :38:59. | |
injured, two of them seriously, after the van was driven into a | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
crowd of people close to a couple of mosques here. Let's talk to a member | :39:05. | :39:13. | |
of an independent think-tank addressing issues of | :39:14. | :39:16. | |
counterextremism. What are your thoughts after this terrible attack? | :39:17. | :39:22. | |
I think the adjectives have run out, to be honest - tragic, sad, all of | :39:23. | :39:29. | |
those. Thinking that we are still reeling from Grenfell, thinking of | :39:30. | :39:33. | |
victims over there still waiting for answers and now everyone's turned | :39:34. | :39:36. | |
away because of this tragedy in North London. It's a wake-up call. I | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
think what today has proven is what we have been saying for years, that | :39:41. | :39:46. | |
is that extremism has no colour, faith, creed. The victims aren't | :39:47. | :39:52. | |
discriminated according to their faith, race and ethnicity and today | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
is proof of that. Hopefully that will ring bells with the | :39:57. | :40:00. | |
authorities, whether they be Government or the Counter-Terrorism | :40:01. | :40:02. | |
strategists, whether they be the police force and the Security | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
Forces. But it's about time that we realised once again all colours of | :40:08. | :40:10. | |
the community come together today. That is how we can effectively fight | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
this scourge on our society, with everyone coming totality. Once | :40:16. | :40:18. | |
again, it's taken a tragedy such as this to bring people together, but | :40:19. | :40:23. | |
it's a must that we bottle this and use this somehow. Is it your view | :40:24. | :40:27. | |
that there's been rising Islamophobia in the United Kingdom | :40:28. | :40:30. | |
in recent weeks and months? It's not me that is saying it, it's every | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
single strand of study and research that's been carried out over the | :40:36. | :40:38. | |
past ten years, that year on year there is a steep rise in | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
Islamophobic tendencies and basically Islamophobia is racism of | :40:45. | :40:49. | |
sorts. We manage to deal with the scourge of racism, or we thought we | :40:50. | :40:53. | |
did, but this has taken on a different guise and claimed a | :40:54. | :40:56. | |
different victim. The fight must be the same and again, the fight must | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
be with a united front. Unfortunately for years now, where I | :41:02. | :41:07. | |
feel we have gone wrong, is that we have seen the Muslim community - | :41:08. | :41:10. | |
fine they are not all terrorists but there is sort of a dwell mark | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
hanging or looming over them - that's problematic, you can't fight | :41:16. | :41:21. | |
this fight against the fight and scourge against terrorism and | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
extremism with a divided front. I'm hoping today is a wake-up call. | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
Police say they'll mount extra patrols in London, particularly | :41:32. | :41:34. | |
around the Muslim communities observing Ramadan and so on. Is that | :41:35. | :41:38. | |
right and necessary in your view? I think it is necessary and it saddens | :41:39. | :41:42. | |
me to say it's necessary. I would rather that we have a situation | :41:43. | :41:45. | |
whereby communities police themselves and look after each | :41:46. | :41:47. | |
other. I think that we have that. But in light of the recent attacks | :41:48. | :41:54. | |
in London, as well as all the rest of the country, they've had it tough | :41:55. | :41:58. | |
in the past few weeks, it seems like it's inevitable. Once again I think | :41:59. | :42:05. | |
that is merely a patch, not a real treatment of the problem. The real | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
treatment of the problem is to change our vision and outlook of the | :42:11. | :42:12. | |
whole problem and how we deal with it. Very good to talk to you, thank | :42:13. | :42:18. | |
you for your time, Anas. We are going to talk on the same | :42:19. | :42:22. | |
theme really to Brendan Cox now, who is in our Westminster studio, | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
husband of the late Jo Cox, the murdered MP killed a year ago. | :42:28. | :42:33. | |
Brendan Cox, since Jo's death, so much horror and tragedy and just | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
this here in Finsbury Park where we are now, just the latest instalment? | :42:38. | :42:41. | |
Yes. And I think what we are seeing in all of these cases is that there | :42:42. | :42:47. | |
is a handful of extremists from all different communities using all | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
different idealogies and backgrounds to drive a hatred of the other. Our | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
communities need to get much better at pushing that out. The hey | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
tremendous that perve seen in the last day, the hatred that drove the | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
attacks in Manchester and Birmingham, essentially they are the | :43:07. | :43:09. | |
same hatred, these are people that hate the other, that don't believe | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
that people of different backgrounds, faith and races should | :43:14. | :43:17. | |
mix and what we need to show is that in fact we can, we do and, you know, | :43:18. | :43:20. | |
over the weekend we saw tens of millions of people get together with | :43:21. | :43:23. | |
their neighbours to celebrate the things that we have in common. We as | :43:24. | :43:27. | |
a country I think need to get much better at noing that and showing | :43:28. | :43:30. | |
frankly how much we do have in common. | :43:31. | :43:38. | |
How do we do that? You are terrific in talking about this and you preach | :43:39. | :43:41. | |
that message, but what else would you like society in general to do to | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
promote those values? So I think it happens all the time, there are | :43:47. | :43:49. | |
groups across the country who work on this day in day out. My son goes | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
to the local Beaver group and, you know, there are people of all | :43:55. | :43:56. | |
different back grounds there. I think one of the problems that we | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
have at the moment is that the communities that bind us together, | :44:01. | :44:03. | |
the institutions that used to bind us together, whether they're | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
churches, pubs or working men's clubs or whatever, those are weaker | :44:08. | :44:10. | |
than they have ever been, they don't do the job of bringing communities | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
together in a way they once did. We have to rebuild that infrastructure | :44:16. | :44:18. | |
that brings communities together so that events like we had over the | :44:19. | :44:22. | |
weekend where people really did come together with their neighbours | :44:23. | :44:25. | |
become the norm, not the exceptional. -- exception. Our kids | :44:26. | :44:33. | |
are less likely to play out on the streets, that is an age we live in. | :44:34. | :44:36. | |
We all worry about that but we have to do something about it. It's | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
partly about the institutions but partly about us taking small, basic | :44:41. | :44:46. | |
steps to knock on the door of a new neighbour when they move into the | :44:47. | :44:49. | |
street to welcome them. Those things make a huge difference to the | :44:50. | :44:52. | |
tightness of the communities we live in. When you live in tight, close | :44:53. | :44:56. | |
communities, it's very hard for extremism to prosper. | :44:57. | :45:04. | |
How worried are you that with all the recent attacks, so horrific | :45:05. | :45:07. | |
that, we are becoming a less United kingdom, if you like, a more divided | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
United Kingdom. My last guess was talking about relentless rises of | :45:14. | :45:19. | |
Islamophobia? I think we are becoming an increasingly united | :45:20. | :45:23. | |
country. I think if you look across social attitudes, we are | :45:24. | :45:27. | |
increasingly tolerant to difference, whether that is difference on the | :45:28. | :45:30. | |
basis of sexuality, race or religion, our country's becoming | :45:31. | :45:34. | |
more tolerance. But what is happening, you are having a reaction | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
against that at the extremes and I think what's happened in the last | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
period is that those extremists, a tiny minority of our country, but | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
they've been emboldened. The narrative that comes out of Trump | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
and Le Pen that legitimizes that hatred means people are not growing | :45:53. | :45:56. | |
in terms of the size of the population, but they are becoming | :45:57. | :46:00. | |
more active and feeling that their narrative is more legitimate and | :46:01. | :46:03. | |
they're feeling more confident to act on the narrative. I think this | :46:04. | :46:07. | |
is the last gasp of the extremists, but it's not going to be something | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
that disappears in the next few weeks or months. It's something we | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
are going to have to endure but also to take on. Often in response to | :46:18. | :46:22. | |
events like the attacks in Manchester or Birmingham, we ask, | :46:23. | :46:27. | |
where did this ideaology and hey tremendous come from. In -- hatred | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
come from. In response to ourselves as well, we need to ask ourselves | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
the same questions. Of course, the natural human | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
response after any attack is anger. You must have felt anger after Jo's | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
death - how do you say to society, we need to channel that anger or, | :46:47. | :46:56. | |
you know, somehow calm that anger? As you say, it is illegitimate human | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
response to be angry in response to these horrific attacks. To be hugely | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
sad about the impact it has on the family of the people affected, that | :47:08. | :47:10. | |
is always my first thought, especially having been through what | :47:11. | :47:13. | |
I have been through. We should not tell people not to be angry. | :47:14. | :47:16. | |
Sometimes there is a narrative out there about respond to this with | :47:17. | :47:20. | |
peace and love and I don't think that's true at all. I think we | :47:21. | :47:27. | |
should be angry, the question is how we use that anger and I think we use | :47:28. | :47:35. | |
it into microwaves. One is to make sure the security response is strong | :47:36. | :47:37. | |
and powerful and police have resources, powers and information | :47:38. | :47:39. | |
they need to crack down on extremists no matter where they come | :47:40. | :47:48. | |
from. Secondly, we must use the anchor to challenge ourselves to do | :47:49. | :48:21. | |
more to drive out the hatred. Anger is a powerful emotion, which just | :48:22. | :48:23. | |
about how we channel it and I think there are very few of us in our | :48:24. | :48:25. | |
lives who will come across a would-be terrorist, whether that's | :48:26. | :48:27. | |
the type of person that might have committed last night's crime or the | :48:28. | :48:28. | |
type of person that committed the crimes in Birmingham, Manchester or | :48:29. | :48:35. | |
Westminster but lots of us will come across hatred and it is the hatred | :48:36. | :48:41. | |
that breeds violence. Whether that's homophobia, Islamophobia, racism, | :48:42. | :48:42. | |
anti-Semitism, all of us in every community can do more in our | :48:43. | :48:44. | |
day-to-day conversations to drive it out. Thank you, Brendan Cox. I must | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
interrupt you because the Prime Minister is speaking. This morning, | :48:49. | :48:56. | |
our country work to the news of another terrorist attack on the | :48:57. | :49:29. | |
streets of our capital city. The second this month, and every bit as | :49:30. | :49:36. | |
sickening as those which have come before. It was an attack that once | :49:37. | :49:39. | |
again targeted the ordinary and the innocent going about their daily | :49:40. | :49:42. | |
lives. This time British Muslims, as they left a mosque, having broken | :49:43. | :49:42. | |
their fast and prayed together at this sacred time of year. Today we | :49:43. | :49:43. | |
come together as we have done before to condemn this act and state once | :49:44. | :49:44. | |
again the hatred and evil of this kind will never succeed. The | :49:45. | :49:44. | |
Government's emergency committee Cobra has just met and I can set out | :49:45. | :49:45. | |
what we know about what happened and the steps that we are taking to | :49:46. | :49:45. | |
respond. Just after 12:20am the Metropolitan Police received reports | :49:46. | :49:46. | |
that a van had been driven into a crowd of people on Seven Sisters | :49:47. | :49:47. | |
Road in Finsbury Park. Officers were in the immediate vicinity as the | :49:48. | :49:48. | |
attack unfolded and responded within one minute. Police declared it a | :49:49. | :49:49. | |
terrorist incident within eight minutes. One man was pronounced dead | :49:50. | :49:52. | |
at the scene. Eight injured were taken to three separate hospitals | :49:53. | :49:53. | |
while two were treated at the scene for more minor injuries. The driver | :49:54. | :49:57. | |
of the van, a white man aged 48, was briefly detained by members of the | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
public at the scene and then arrested by police. The early | :50:03. | :50:08. | |
assessment by police is that the attacker acted alone. Our thoughts | :50:09. | :50:14. | |
and prayers this morning are with the family and friends of the man | :50:15. | :50:20. | |
who died, and those who were injured. On behalf of the people of | :50:21. | :50:24. | |
London and the whole country I want to thank the police and emergency | :50:25. | :50:27. | |
services once again for responding as they always do, with great | :50:28. | :50:34. | |
professionalism and courage. Extra police resources have already been | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
deployed and the police will continue to assess the security | :50:40. | :50:46. | |
needs of mosques and provide any additional resources needed, | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
especially during this final week before Eid, a particularly important | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
time for the whole Muslim community. This was an attack on Muslims near | :50:58. | :51:07. | |
their place of worship and like all terrorism in whatever form it shares | :51:08. | :51:11. | |
the same fundamental goal. It seeks to drive us apart and break the | :51:12. | :51:15. | |
precious bonds of solidarity and citizenship that we share in this | :51:16. | :51:19. | |
country. We will not let this happen. When I stood here for the | :51:20. | :51:26. | |
first time as Prime Minister last summer I spoke about our precious | :51:27. | :51:30. | |
belief in the union, not just the bond between the four nations of the | :51:31. | :51:33. | |
United Kingdom, but the bond between all our citizens every one of us, | :51:34. | :51:39. | |
whoever we are and whether we are from. At the heart of that bond is a | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
belief in the fundamental freedoms and liberties that we all cherish. | :51:44. | :51:50. | |
The freedom of speech, the freedom to live how we choose, and yes, the | :51:51. | :51:56. | |
freedom to practice religion in peace. This morning we have seen a | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
sickening attempt to destroy those freedoms and to break those bonds of | :52:03. | :52:05. | |
citizenship that define our United Kingdom. It is a reminder that | :52:06. | :52:11. | |
terrorism, extremism, and hatred take many forms and our | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
determination to tackle them must be the same whoever is responsible. As | :52:18. | :52:24. | |
I said here two weeks ago there has been far too much tolerance of | :52:25. | :52:29. | |
extremism in our country over many years, and that means extremism of | :52:30. | :52:35. | |
any kind, including Islamophobia. That is why this government will act | :52:36. | :52:40. | |
to stamp out extremist and hateful ideology, both across society and on | :52:41. | :52:45. | |
the Internet, so it is denied a safe space to grow. It is why we will be | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
reviewing our counterterrorism strategy and ensuring the police and | :52:52. | :52:55. | |
security services have the powers they need. It is why we will | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
establish a new commission for countering extremism as a statutory | :53:01. | :53:04. | |
body to help fight hatred and extremism in the same way as we have | :53:05. | :53:09. | |
fought racism, because this extremism is every bit as insidious | :53:10. | :53:21. | |
and destructive to our values and our way of life and we will stop at | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
nothing to defeat it. Today's attack falls at a difficult time in the | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
life of this city following on from the attack on London Bridge two | :53:31. | :53:31. | |
weeks ago, and of course the unimaginable tragedy of Grenfell | :53:32. | :53:34. | |
Tower last week, on which I will chair another meeting of ministers | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
and officials later today. But what we have seen throughout, whether in | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
the heroism of the ordinary citizens who fought off the attackers at | :53:45. | :53:48. | |
London Bridge, the unbreakable resolve of the residents in | :53:49. | :53:51. | |
Kensington, or this morning the spirit of the community that | :53:52. | :53:55. | |
apprehended this attacker, is that this is an extraordinary city of | :53:56. | :54:01. | |
extraordinary people. It is home to a multitude of communities that | :54:02. | :54:05. | |
together make London one of the greatest cities on earth. Diverse, | :54:06. | :54:12. | |
welcoming, vibrant, compassionate, confident and determined never to | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
give in to hate. These are the values that define this city. These | :54:19. | :54:23. | |
are the values that define this country. These are the values that | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
this government will uphold. These are the values that will prevail. | :54:29. | :54:44. | |
You have been listening to the Prime Minister Theresa May condemning this | :54:45. | :54:49. | |
latest terror attack in the capital saying that London is an | :54:50. | :54:55. | |
extraordinary city of extraordinary people, and announcing this as an | :54:56. | :54:59. | |
attack on the innocent who had been praying together at this sacred time | :55:00. | :55:03. | |
of Ramadan, condemning this as an act of hatred and evil and hatred | :55:04. | :55:09. | |
and evil of this kind, she said, will never succeed and she praised | :55:10. | :55:16. | |
the bravery of those who had stepped into detain the driver of the van | :55:17. | :55:22. | |
who had attacked people. She said one man had died, pronounced dead at | :55:23. | :55:26. | |
the scene, eight others had been injured and taken to three different | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
hospitals and two received minor injuries and were treated at the | :55:31. | :55:36. | |
scene. Let's go to our assistant political editor who was listening | :55:37. | :55:41. | |
to that. Once again the Prime Minister having to condemn another | :55:42. | :55:45. | |
act of terrorism. Interesting that in her very first remarks she | :55:46. | :55:48. | |
condemned this as an act of terrorism, a different type of | :55:49. | :55:52. | |
terrorism, but terrorism nonetheless the same as we had seen at London | :55:53. | :55:59. | |
Bridge, an attempt, she said, to divide communities and break the | :56:00. | :56:03. | |
bonds that unite us as a nation. She harked back to her first speech in | :56:04. | :56:08. | |
Downing Street when she talked about what unites this country, not just | :56:09. | :56:12. | |
the union between the different nations but the union between | :56:13. | :56:18. | |
different communities. I thought interesting too the way she went out | :56:19. | :56:23. | |
of her way to extol the response of London and the virtues of London and | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
the character of London, talking about the difficult times London now | :56:28. | :56:32. | |
faced, not just with the recent terror attacks, but obviously | :56:33. | :56:38. | |
Grenfell Tower and now this as well. I sensed Mrs May trying to catch the | :56:39. | :56:42. | |
mood of the capital city, that sense of defiance and determination of | :56:43. | :56:51. | |
community is adamant they will not allow these sort of events to divide | :56:52. | :56:53. | |
people. Interesting too, I thought, she talked again about this | :56:54. | :56:57. | |
commission to counter extremism which the government see as similar | :56:58. | :57:03. | |
to the commission for racial equality in the 70s and 80s, which | :57:04. | :57:08. | |
many people believe changed a lot of the arguments and perceptions around | :57:09. | :57:12. | |
racism and the clear hope of this commission to counter extremism was | :57:13. | :57:18. | |
that that may have the same impact in countering some of the extremist | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
views from whichever quarter they come. Mrs May was clear the | :57:23. | :57:27. | |
extremism of Islamophobia in her view is as dangerous as those | :57:28. | :57:34. | |
perpetuated by Islamist extremists. Mrs May wrapping it all together in | :57:35. | :57:38. | |
terms of the terrorist threat we face. | :57:39. | :57:46. | |
Norman, for the moment, thank you, Norman Smith, assistant political | :57:47. | :57:49. | |
editor. We have also heard from Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
who was here for quite a lot of the night, saying he was shocked by this | :57:54. | :57:58. | |
horrific and cruel attack. He has met Muslim community leaders and he | :57:59. | :58:01. | |
will be back here later to attend prayers at Finsbury Park Mosque. | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
Let's listen to what Mr Corbyn said. I know people at the mosque and in | :58:07. | :58:11. | |
the community well and I came here last night to talk to the police and | :58:12. | :58:17. | |
firefighters and ambulance crew who were here and the response by all | :58:18. | :58:20. | |
three emergency services was very timely and very quick. The police | :58:21. | :58:27. | |
managed to arrest the suspect who was driving the van and taken away | :58:28. | :58:34. | |
from the area. Sadly the gentleman who died's body was on the ground, | :58:35. | :58:39. | |
covered respectfully by forensic tense so that examination could take | :58:40. | :58:43. | |
place. The community became very angry because in the initial stages | :58:44. | :58:48. | |
it was not referred to as a terrorist attack. Do you think this | :58:49. | :58:51. | |
terrorist attack is being treated as seriously as others? Well, I'm | :58:52. | :58:56. | |
treating it absolutely as serious as any other attack. This was a van | :58:57. | :59:01. | |
driven into a crowd of people who were attending a man who was already | :59:02. | :59:09. | |
injured. They were coming home from night-time prayers in the mosque, | :59:10. | :59:30. | |
it's Ramadan and it's perfectly normal. Eight people have been | :59:31. | :59:33. | |
injured, some of them, I understand, extremely seriously. This is terror | :59:34. | :59:34. | |
on the streets and it is terror of the people on the streets in the | :59:35. | :59:35. | |
community is I'm very proud to represent and that's why I'm here | :59:36. | :59:36. | |
today. That was the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the constituency MP | :59:37. | :59:38. | |
for this area, and he has been here through the night and will be back | :59:39. | :59:43. | |
here this afternoon. Let's remind you of the words of the Prime | :59:44. | :59:46. | |
Minister in the last few minutes as well on this terror attack. She said | :59:47. | :59:51. | |
it was a terror attack, one man died and was pronounced dead at the scene | :59:52. | :59:55. | |
and others injured, taken to three different hospitals. Three seriously | :59:56. | :00:01. | |
injured and two with minor injuries who were treated at the scene. | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
Theresa May said it was an attack on the Muslim community and the | :00:07. | :00:09. | |
innocent who had been praying together at this sacred time of | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
Ramadan. She condemned this as an act of hatred and evil, but this | :00:14. | :00:19. | |
kind of hatred and evil, she said, will never succeed. She called it a | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
sickening attempt to destroy the freedoms to worship in the United | :00:25. | :00:26. | |
Kingdom and to destroy the bonds that unite us. She praised the | :00:27. | :00:33. | |
bravery of the local people who had pinned down the driver of the van, a | :00:34. | :00:36. | |
48-year-old man has been arrested. She talked about London having | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
suffered a succession of terror attacks force of the Westminster | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
attack. The London Bridge attack. And now this. She said this is an | :00:47. | :00:53. | |
extraordinary city of extraordinary people. Those were the words of the | :00:54. | :01:00. | |
Prime Minister Theresa May a short time ago in Downing Street. You have | :01:01. | :01:02. | |
been watching special coverage from where people always seem to | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
understand what I do - Japan. I go there a lot and it's | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
a constant source of inspiration. It gives me a chance to pull | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
together thoughts about whether historical fiction is | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
legitimate, | :01:22. | :01:25. |