04/06/2017 BBC Weekend News

Seven are killed and almost 50 injured

in a terror attack here in central London.

A white van drove into pedestrians before three men jumped

out and stabbed people in nearby streets.

They were running in all the pubs, all the bars,

I can't remember all of them, but they run in,

and I was going to people, "Run, run, run!"

Distressing scenes as paramedics and the emergency services

Some of the injured are in a critical condition in hospital.

Police placed several bars in lockdown.

People were ordered to lay on the ground

Police say that within eight minutes of receiving first reports

of the attack they had shot dead the three terrorists.

Senior officers say they believe the incident is under control.

The Prime Minister condemned the attack as a perversion

of Islam and vowed to crack down on extremism.

far too much tolerance of extremism in our country.

So we need to become far more robust in identifying it

and stamping it out across the public sector and across society.

Campaigning in the general election has been suspended for today

by both the Conservatives and Labour.

Good afternoon from central London, where seven people have been killed

and many injured during the country's second terrorist attack

in less than two weeks, and the third in under three months.

with what we know about last night's events.

Officers were called to reports of a vehicle ploughing

into pedestrians on London Bridge shortly after ten o'clock.

The vehicle crashed and was abandoned.

The attackers then moved a short way down the road,

to nearby Borough Market, where they began stabbing people.

all three attackers were shot and killed by police.

the Prime Minister condemned the attack,

saying, "It is time to say enough is enough."

We will bring you the very latest on the events,

with reports and analysis in this extended programme.

Our first report on the attack is from Dan Johnson.

You may find some of the images distressing.

The warmth of a summer's evening shattered by sirens.

A huge police response answering urgent calls for help.

Just after 10pm, this white van was driven at people

who were walking across London Bridge.

Witnesses say three men got out and ran towards Borough Market,

There was a bar full of people there just having a good time,

and they went running straight into them, and then I'm not too sure

what they were saying, I think they were saying,

"This is for Allah," and people, you could hear them screaming,

When I first see them, they were, "This is for Allah," and they run

up, they stabbed this girl, I don't know how many times,

And she was going, "Help me, help me," and I could not do nothing.

Terror rippled through the area's bars and restaurants.

as they tried to identify the attackers.

as armed officers moved in and cleared the area.

Less than ten minutes after the first calls, it was over -

They had canisters taped to their bodies,

made to look like suicide vests - but not real, the police say.

The Ambulance Service and hospitals put emergency plans into action.

Paramedics were there quickly, trying to save lives.

On the bridge, people were treating those who'd been hit.

For emergency services and for passers-by, instinctive

reaction or practised major-incident response, there was praise.

I visited one of the hospitals where the injured are being treated.

There, I heard truly remarkable stories of extraordinarily brave

actions by officers on and off duty who were first on the scene.

I also heard of colleagues from other emergency services

Many, many people risked their own safety to help others

and to treat those seriously injured -

and indeed to confront the suspects involved.

Behind a growing police cordon, teams were still checking the area,

for a while unsure if other attackers were still a threat.

There were controlled explosions as they searched buildings.

Once again, terror has torn through the election campaign, and the Prime

Minister has been forced to confront some of the toughest issues. Our

country has made significant progress in disrupting plots and

protecting the public. But it is time to say enough is enough.

Everybody needs to go about their lives as they normally would. Our

society should continue to function in accordance with our values. But

when it comes to taking on extremism and terrorism, things need to

change. Democracy has been interrupted for the second time in a

fortnight, as politicians attended an emergency cabinet committee

meeting with security officials. London's mayor describe a city

wounded but resolute. My message to Londoners and visitors

to our great city is You will see an increased

police presence today, including armed officers

and uniformed officers. There is no reason

to be alarmed by this. We are the safest

global city in the world. You saw last night,

as a consequence of our planning, preparation and the rehearsals

that take place, the swift response from the emergency services,

tackling the terrorists, The police investigation is

spreading already. This morning, officers raided a flat in east

London, but they have not confirmed its connection. There are reports of

arrests. There is a large area around London Bridge that is still

take..., arts of extra officers are on duty. There are plenty of

questions for investigators and a lot for people to absorb. London has

been through this before, but it is still a test of the city's resolve.

Dan Johnson, BBC News, central London.

Let's go to our correspondent Sophie Long,

who's by the banks of the River Thames alongside London Bridge.

Explain what is happening where you are, Sophie. Well, you can see

London Bridge behind me, it is closed, the buses on its stationery.

On the banks of the river Thames, it is calm, it is peaceful today, the

opposite of the scenes here 15 hours ago. Just after ten o'clock last

night the attackers drove their van across the bridge, ploughing into

pedestrians. They then abandoned their vehicle, run down the road,

attacked people in bars and restaurants, stabbing them at

random. The police investigation is ongoing today, there is a large area

still cordoned off. What is crucial for them is to find out who those

men were and whether they were acting as part of a wider circle.

For people who don't know Borough Market, it is a real foodie haven,

it attracts tourists from all over the world, but it is also a place

loved by locals. I have been speaking to many of them today, some

of whom were caught up in the carnage. They have talked about the

panic that in student as the attackers burst into bars and

restaurant is, and they have also praised the brilliant and fast work

of the emergency services. I think you get the sense that because of

the location, this was an attack not just on London but on Londoners and

their way of life. They are said to me today that they will not be

terrorised, they will not live in fear, they will continue to enjoy

their great city in the way that they always have. But as you say,

this is the third terror attack in Britain in as many months, and there

are questions being as the day about how, about why they were able to

strike in this way again. Thanks for now, that is Sophie Long at London

Bridge. Let's hear a little bit more from people who did witness

everything here last night. One couple who live above the

Southwark Tavern in Borough Market witnessed the incident

as it unfolded from their window. They were able to see everything

that unfolded. They've been speaking to our home

editor, Mark Easton. Around about 10:10, we were just

watching a film, windows wide open, and we just heard commotion,

you know, glass smashing, you know, tables and chairs being tipped over.

High-pitched screaming. Lots of screaming, yeah,

so I jumped up, and I looked out the window onto what would be

Southwark Street, and I saw lots of people screaming and running

and just trying to get out Most people trying to run down

into the Underground station, Yeah, people were running

everywhere, you heard a man on the phone saying,

there'd been a stabbing, And it was when I saw lots of people

running down into the Underground that I thought it seemed a lot more

serious, because it was mass panic - it wasn't just a fight,

it was something serious. And there was one ambulance that

had obviously gone to this stabbing. One young guy seemed

to come out of the pub, and he was knocking on the window

of the ambulance, he was in a panic, saying, "You have to help me,

my friend, he's been stabbed, Whether or not he got stabbed

in the pub or outside the pub, I don't know, and he said,

"My friend's been stabbed, And there was another guy

who was probably in his 40s, standing on the other side

of the ambulance, knocking on the other window, saying,

"I've been stabbed," I'm not sure if I've got

this wrong now, because I haven't seen it on the news,

but I am convinced that I heard some sort of bang

in the Slug and Lettuce. Lots of people came running out

of the Slug and Lettuce, then armed police ran in there,

and it was in that kind of area, all the Borough High Street area

we heard another series of gunshots. So I looked out the window,

and there was loads of armed police. It was when everything

Yeah, there wasn't a lot of people around, and there

were a lot of police still, not many people, but then

we were looking at the window, and the bomb robot turned up.

Yeah, and then Claudia said, "It looks like there's a bomb squad

At this point, they had cleared everyone out of the whole area,

so I shouted down and said, "We are still up here,

And then one of the police officers said, "Get out, you have to get out

of the building now." He was like, "Look, just run."

The experiences there of one young couple in Borough Market. Let's head

to join our correspondent Helena Lee, bring us up to date with all

those who were injured last night. It took just six minutes for that

first ambulance to arrive at the scene where you are last night, 80

medics were involved trying to treat the injured at the scene, including

advance trauma units and paramedics, and also London's air ambulance. 48

patients were brought to five different hospitals across London,

the most seriously injured were brought to King's College Hospital

and Royal London, because they have major trauma units. They have told

us that 14 patients were admitted here, one has since been discharged,

and also at the Royal London, 12 patients were admitted to that

hospital. They have been treated for a variety of injuries, but we know

this lunchtime that many are still in a critical condition in hospital.

We are also getting a picture of the injured, we know that four are

French, one is Australian, and among those injured are police officers as

well. And as those injured are in hospital being treated by medical

staff, they will start to begin to try to process exactly what happened

to them last night. Helena, thank you, Helena Lee, at King's College

Hospital. Let me give you that number if you have concerns about

family or friends who may have been caught up in everything here in

central London last night. It is a freephone number.

That is the emergency helpline number if you are worried that

perhaps you have friends or family who may have been in the area of

London Bridge or Borough Market here last night.

The Prime Minister made a number of forthright statements

and how the country should respond in her Downing Street speech.

Here's a little more of what she had to say.

In terms of their planning and execution, the recent

attacks are not connected, but we believe we are experiencing

a new trend in the threat we face, as terrorism breeds terrorism,

and perpetrators are inspired to attack, not only on the basis

of carefully constructed plots after years of planning

and training, and not even as lone attackers radicalised online,

but by copying one another, and often using the crudest

We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are.

While the recent attacks are not connected by common

networks, they are connected in one important sense.

They are bound together by the single evil ideology

of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division

It is an ideology that claims our Western values of freedom,

democracy and human rights are incompatible with

It is an ideology that is a perversion of Islam

Defeating this ideology is one of the great challenges of our time.

Since the emergence of the threat from Islamist-inspired terrorism,

our country has made significant progress in disrupting plots

But it is time to say enough is enough.

Everybody needs to go about their lives as they normally would.

Our society should continue to function

But when it comes to taking on extremism and terrorism,

As a mark of respect, the two political parties have

suspended our national campaigns for today.

But violence can never be allowed to disrupt the democratic process,

so those campaigns will resume in full tomorrow, and the general

election will go ahead as planned on Thursday.

As a country, our response must be as it has always been when we have

We must come together, we must pull together,

and united we will take on and defeat our enemies.

Theresa May speaking outside Downing Street earlier today.

Our home affairs correspondent, Daniel Sandford, is outside

What's the latest on the investigation?

Once again the centre of London is alive with the screams of police

sirens dashing from location to location. The first release job is

to deal with the crime scene, a massive crime scene, from London

Bridge the Borough Market Asharq wrote the first police job. -- the

first police job. They have been starting to identify but suspects

they shot. There have been a series of raids in Barking. 12 people have

been arrested, not all will turn out to be involved, but 12 people

associated with at least one of the suspects shot dead last night, an

important part of the inquiry, was there anyone else apart from the

main perpetrators, as the prime early macro Home Secretary described

them? Four of their own officers were injured, two seriously, one

from the British Transport Police, seriously injured, and an off duty

Metropolitan Police officer, a rugby player, he tackled one of the

attackers last night and he himself sustained bad knife injuries. He is

seriously injured in hospital but not thought to be suffering from

life-threatening injuries. Daniel, when we hear the strong tone from

the Prime Minister, when she talks about changes, what might it

actually mean? A powerful phrase from Theresa May, things have got to

change. It echoes what Tony Blair said after the 7th of July bombings

in London 12 years ago when he said, the rules of the game are changing.

She specified a few things, one was there should not any longer be a

safe space on the internet. But will be highly controversial, after the

Edward Snowden revelations, when people are concerned about

encryption and wanted to make sure governments are not spying on them

on the internet, Naldo Governments are saying, we need to make sure

there is not a safe space on the internet for extremism to breed. She

has also talked about longer sentences for people found guilty of

minor terrorism offences, echoing Tony Blair 12 years ago, trying to

step up the seriousness of the punishments given to people who get

involved in extremism. Daniel Sandford, thank you very much, our

home affairs correspondent. Frank Gardner, our security correspondent.

Three attacks in the UK in about three months. Are we looking at any

sort of pattern here? What is your assessment? It is starting to look

like a concerted campaign by so-called Islamic State. The

backdrop to all of this is that there is a concentrated stream of

propaganda coming out of what is left of so-called Islamic State but

is calling on the followers to carry out attacks on crusader civilians,

ordinary people, to you and me. Not just in Britain, but across

continental Europe too. The attacks we have seen in London last night

followed, I'm afraid, the exact instructions of what has been pumped

out of Mosul, wherever they are hiding, to do exactly this. It is in

reaction to the fact that self-professed caliphate they have

got there is shrinking, it is being defeated by forces on the ground.

The islets Dilley Margret ideology will not go away. The numbers are

scary. -- the ideology. There are 500 active plots being investigated,

3000 so-called subjects of interest, people under surveillance, and a

further details dozen people known to the authorities. The questions

now are going to be who else is a part of this? Is anyone else linked

to it customer did anyone else know about it who could have stopped it?

-- is anyone else linked to it? Last night's attack comes just four

days before the general election. The Prime Minister announced it

will go ahead as planned. People will go to the polls on

Thursday. National campaigning has been

suspended by all major The latest report on all of this

comes from our political correspondent, LE price.

Flags flying at half-mast over Downing Street,

as senior Cabinet figures and police officials arrive at a Cobra meeting

Just four days before a general election,

the main parties announced they would postpone

But it would get underway again tomorrow.

On the one hand, clearly we want to respect the people

We want to pay proper respect, and therefore, we don't

But on the other hand, the people doing this are doing this

because they despise the freedoms that we have.

And those freedoms can be the freedom to go out on a Saturday

night or the freedom to cast their vote.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said despite today's

campaign suspension, the democratic process

I can't recall any other election when there's

I hope that it will not disrupt our process, because we have

But I also hope we will reflect on the need to have sufficient

police officers on our streets, and also sufficient intelligence

But in response, as in Manchester, all communities must come together.

It is right that we suspend our national campaigning.

But it's also right that we get the balance right.

And we are proud of our democracy, and that in the midst

of an election, all parties, no matter who you support,

ought to continue with that local campaigning, and we should get

on with the national campaigning soon.

It must not be that the terrorists put us in a position

where we weaken our democracy in response to that outrage.

In Scotland, the SNP leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon,

also not campaigning, will chair a meeting of the Scottish

Government's Resilience Committee in the wake of the attack.

But unlike the other main political parties,

Ukip say they won't suspend national campaigning today.

The Prime Minister says we must not have the democratic process

stopped by terrorism, therefore we're going

We think we should be having an honest conversation

about the real mistakes we've made in the past, and what we need

This election campaign has seen two terror attacks in as many weeks.

When the campaign does get back under way tomorrow,

it's likely to be more muted and the issue of security firmly

And our political correspondent, Ellie Price,

Your thoughts about the ramifications this might have in

terms of Thursday's vote. We might have just found the first thing all

of the political parties agree on something the Prime Minister said a

few hours ago. Violence can never be allowed to disrupt the democratic

process. But there is no doubt we are in uncharted territory. The last

Sunday before the election campaign, it usually is one of the busiest

days before the election. All the party leaders were expected to make

campaign speeches today, they have all been put on hold. There is no

doubt this event will affect this campaign both in terms of tone and

content. All the parties now have a difficult line to tread between

being seen to respect those who have died and not be seen to be seeking

to make political gain or capital out of these events, but also to be

seen to address the big concern of voters which is the big issue of

security. There is a sense that they will not let terrorism disrupt this

campaign but it may just define it. Thank you for now. There has been

reaction from around the world to this attack in central London.

President Trump called the Prime Minister to offer his

condolences for what he called the brutal terror attack.

The French President, Emmanuel Macron, said his country

was standing, more than ever, side by side with the UK.

Here's our diplomatic correspondent, James Landale.

This attack may have been targeted on the people of London,

but the threat of terrorism is global,

and world leaders were quick to show their solidarity.

Australia's Prime Minister said that two Australians

had been directly affected by the incident.

We send our heartfelt sympathy and love to the victims

and their families, and to the people of Britain.

This attack is yet another cruel example of the new reality

in which we live, the ever-present threat of murderous

From across the world, leaders took to social media to

Chancellor Merkel saying that Germany stood firmly and decisively

at the side of Great Britain in the fight against terrorism.

In New York, the authorities increased security across the city,

particularly in areas full of pedestrians and tourists,

Donald Trump called Theresa May to offer his condolences.

In a series of tweets, the president offered his help,

but he also used the incident to renew his demands for

a ban on travellers from six mostly Muslim countries.

And he also appeared to criticise the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan,

for saying there was no need to be alarmed.

At a security conference in Singapore,

New Zealand's Defence Minister echoed Theresa May's call

for tighter controls over the internet.

We know that terror organisations look to galvanise support

and exploit porous borders, disenfranchised individuals,

and the access provided by the internet and social media.

This is a clear and present security threat to us all.

Four French nationals were caught up in the attack,

visited a crisis centre monitoring events.

Security has already been tightened at polling stations in London

for next week's elections to the French parliament.

TRANSLATION: France and the United Kingdom

are allies that have been subjected to a common threat,

and we will be united in our joint response to it.

President Macron spoke to Theresa May this morning

and reminded the Prime Minister of the importance

of European cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

Of course, this attack comes less than two weeks

after the bombing in Manchester, in which 22 people and dozens

were injured, at a concert by the American

The there is a benefit concert taking place tonight in Manchester

to raise money for people who suffered in that attack. The

organisers have said the concert is going ahead. Let us go to the venue

and join our entertainment correspondent. Give us a sense of

what people are saying there and what the mood is in the run-up to

the concert. There has been a noticeable step up in security in

the last hour. It has been described as a ring of steel around Old

Trafford cricket ground with police brought in from all around Britain,

from Essex, from road -- from Humberside. The armed police, not

your normal site at a pop concert. The fans have been queueing up since

9am and many have said the families begged them not to come after the

events in London last night but they said they wanted to be here, as an

act of solidarity to Ariana Grande and to not let them win. We have

heard from Ariana Grande's manager and he says he has contacted all 11

acts on the bill, including the likes of Take That, Katy Perry,

Justin Bieber, and they all want to perform. The phrase he has used, the

reason tonight's concert has to go ahead, fear and hatred cannot win.

It has been an incredible achievement to get this concert

together, 13 days since the concert at Manchester Arena, to put it into

context, the achievement, Live Aid, 1985, Wembley Stadium, 20 acts

crammed into ten hours. Today there are 11 acts in just three hours. It

is going to be a real achievement to get them on. The most important

thing is that it is going ahead in the face of adversity. Thank you.

Colin in Manchester. Before we leave you for this programme from London

Bridge, let us remind you of what unfolded here late last night.

Officers were called to reports of a vehicle ploughing

into pedestrians on London Bridge shortly after 10pm.

The vehicle crashed and was abandoned.

The attackers then moved a short way down the road,

to nearby Borough Market where they began stabbing people.

It would have been extremely busy at that time of night.

Within eight minutes, all three attackers were shot

The police have said the investigation is ongoing and as we

have been standing here this morning, at the edge of the police

cordon, people have been bringing flowers and there is now a small

number of flowers as people pay tribute already to the seven people

who died and those who are injured in this second terrorist attack in

less than a fortnight. There will be continuing coverage from BBC News

throughout the day. You can see all of that on the BBC News Channel.

The next news on BBC One is at 5:55pm.

From here at London Bridge, it is goodbye.

After a weekend sunshine and showers, some notable showers on the

way for some of us on Monday and Tuesday. That comes after a drier

than normal spring, the months of March, April and May. In the brown,

you