Browse content similar to 22/03/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Terror on the streets of London - this evening additional armed | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
officers are deployed around the capital. | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
We now, of course, have an ongoing operation and while we believe | :00:09. | :00:10. | |
there was just one attacker I'm sure the public will understand us taking | :00:11. | :00:14. | |
every precaution and locking down the area as thoroughly as possible. | :00:15. | :00:24. | |
Also tonight: From Parliament Square to Victoria Embankment, | :00:25. | :00:26. | |
people are told to avoid these key areas around the city. | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
Bloodied and bowed - we speak to one eyewitness | :00:30. | :00:31. | |
who was there and saw the attack unfold from outside | :00:32. | :00:34. | |
I hear bang, bang, twice. No more, twice. I said to myself, oh, dear, | :00:35. | :00:52. | |
this accident. First person to arrive in that incident is me. I see | :00:53. | :00:58. | |
man lying in the floor, front of Parliament door, actually. It is | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
full of blood. Good evening and welcome | :01:04. | :01:10. | |
to the programme. I'm Alex Bushill. | :01:11. | :01:12. | |
Londoners are once more facing a major security incident | :01:13. | :01:14. | |
in the capital. Armed police remain on the streets | :01:15. | :01:25. | |
and people are told to avoid certain areas of the city after a police | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
officer was stabbed in the grounds The attacker has been shot and | :01:29. | :01:31. | |
killed. Several people were also injured | :01:32. | :01:39. | |
by a vehicle on Westminster Bridge. Our home affairs correspondent | :01:40. | :01:41. | |
Nick Beake is at New Scotland Yard, where police have been updating us | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
on the situation. Details are still emerging, what is | :01:45. | :01:54. | |
the very latest? Alex, this is the day that London had planned for but | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
hoped it would never see. We know what city has been a price target | :01:59. | :02:04. | |
for those who would do as ill. The security services have said they | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
have worked tirelessly to prevent an attack, but today someone got | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
through, with deadly consequences. Let me tell you where you are, this | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
is the cord and at the Palace of Westminster, as far as we can get, | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
you can see Big Ben illuminated and, crucially, armed police remaining in | :02:22. | :02:29. | |
place. Westminster Bridge is to the right, that is still sealed. We can | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
take you through the events as far as we know them, at around 2:40pm a | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
car drove into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and crashed into | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
railings. Among those there were some French schoolchildren on a trip | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
and three police officers coming back from a commendation ceremony. | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
It seems two people were killed on Westminster Bridge. Moments later | :02:50. | :02:52. | |
around the corner, an attacker stabbed a police officer within the | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
grounds of the Houses of Parliament. That police officer was killed, we | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
later found out. We also discover that one of his colleagues had shot | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
dead the assailant. The country's top counterterror police officer | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
Mark Rowley updated us a short time ago. As you know, we have declared | :03:13. | :03:22. | |
this terrorism incident and the counterterrorism command are | :03:23. | :03:24. | |
carrying out a full investigation. The attack started when a car was | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
driven over Westminster Bridge, hating and injuring a number of | :03:29. | :03:31. | |
members of the public including three police officers on their way | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
back from a commendation ceremony -- hitting and injuring. A car crash | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
near Parliament and at least one man, armed with a knife, continued | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
the attack and try to enter parliament. Sadly I can confirm that | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
four people have died, including the police officer protecting Parliament | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
and one man we believe to be the attacker, who was shot by a police | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
firearms officer. The officer's family have been made aware. At | :03:59. | :04:06. | |
least 20 people have been injured. As part of long established and well | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
rehearsed plans, Parliament has been locked down and the Met responded | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
with plans for a marauding terrorist attack, including uniformed and | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
specialist firearms officers. My thoughts are with all those affected | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
by today's attacks, as a service we have lost one of road as he acted to | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
protect the public and his colleagues. This is the day we | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
planned for but would hope would never happen. Sadly it is a reality. | :04:31. | :04:36. | |
We will continue to do all we can to protect the people of London. | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
Much of Westminster has been unlocked down this afternoon and the | :04:43. | :04:45. | |
consequences of what happened remain because there are a number of road | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
closures and disruption. We can see where they are, Parliament Square, | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
Whitehall, Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, Victoria Street all | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
the way to the junction with Broadway, Victoria Embankment up to | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
Embankment tube station, an area which remains closed off while | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
police continue their investigations. What happens now? We | :05:09. | :05:13. | |
have lost the light in the last half hour or so, Scotland Yard just over | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
the way has lost one of their own, and focus will be on Scotland Yard | :05:21. | :05:23. | |
and their investigation, which will be under way. The counterterrorism | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
command are leading this. Tomorrow was meant to be a joyous day for the | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
Metropolitan Police, the Queen was supposed to be opening venue | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
promises, they have only been every couple of months, but it takes on a | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
complete the different dynamic -- supposed to be opening their | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
premises. Four people have died, including a police officer, and this | :05:45. | :05:47. | |
investigation is under way. Thank you. | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
Police have appealed for anyone with mobile phone footage or who | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
witnessed what happened to contact them. Gareth Berg -- Gareth Kirby | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
spoke to one eyewitness. The roads by Parliament are normally | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
crowded with Londoners and tourists and hundreds today will have seen | :06:08. | :06:10. | |
something they never wanted to witness. Londoners like this man, a | :06:11. | :06:18. | |
kitchen porter from Edmonton. I hear bang, bang twice, no more. Twice. | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
Kabasele was in Parliament Square to meet a friend but believes he heard | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
shots and then witnessed the consequences. | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
The first person to arrive in that incident is me. I see man lying in | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
the floor, friends of Parliament door, actually, it was full of | :06:38. | :06:44. | |
blood. -- in front of Parliament door. I said to myself this was not | :06:45. | :06:50. | |
an accident, because I see a man, blood coming from one place, his | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
head. Others not so close but impacted in some way, several | :06:57. | :06:58. | |
servants at the Treasury here leaving work early after these | :06:59. | :07:06. | |
events. And also affected, a management consultant from Denmark | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
who had come to London for a conference. Her day was suddenly | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
interrupted. We saw the police came out and they were kind of scared, we | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
could see the police cars were running fast and pushing people away | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
and we saw more police coming in with weapons, a helicopter landed on | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
the grass in front of the building. I am OK even though I am shocked. | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
A shocking day for those close to the scene, one they will not forget. | :07:36. | :07:44. | |
If you have any footage, police ask you to send it to the address on | :07:45. | :07:46. | |
screen. That addresses | :07:47. | :08:00. | |
ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk. The current threat level in the UK | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
for an international terrorist attack is severe, | :08:07. | :08:08. | |
which means an attack has been highly likely | :08:09. | :08:10. | |
for two and a half years. So, keeping London safe has long | :08:11. | :08:13. | |
been a key priority of mayors and police chiefs alike, | :08:14. | :08:16. | |
as our political correspondent Just four days into his new job | :08:17. | :08:18. | |
as mayor and Sadiq Khan, like other city leaders before him, | :08:19. | :08:21. | |
was seeing how the Met Police train Since August 2014, the capital, | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
and the country have been An alert warning that | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
an attack is highly likely. I've met with a commissioner on two | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
occasions already to reassure myself as the Mayor of London that we are | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
ready for, God forbid, a terrorist incident here in London. | :08:41. | :08:41. | |
Within days he'd ordered a review of how well London was prepared | :08:42. | :08:44. | |
Asking this man, Lord Harris, to check that we were up to the job. | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
What we want to try and do is see, given the way in which the terrorist | :08:49. | :08:57. | |
threat changes very rapidly, how the services are responding to those | :08:58. | :08:58. | |
changing threat. Among his recommendations that | :08:59. | :08:59. | |
more bollards are put outside public buildings, | :09:00. | :09:01. | |
like the ones installed outside But also a recommendation of more | :09:02. | :09:03. | |
armed response officers in London. In August last year the Met | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
announced it was recruiting This is a reasonable response, it is | :09:09. | :09:22. | |
not giving every police opposite in Britain a gun, not even everybody in | :09:23. | :09:24. | |
the Met a gun. A controversial show of force | :09:25. | :09:26. | |
for the announcement, perhaps, but it appears this unit may have | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
been deployed today. That van they are in front | :09:30. | :09:31. | |
of, clearly visible on Westminster Bridge | :09:32. | :09:33. | |
after the attack this afternoon. London, of course, has been on high | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
alert since the events of 7/7 when 52 innocent people were killed | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
after terrorist attacks As the terror threat has developed, | :09:41. | :09:42. | |
so have the warnings from senior If you hear gunshots, the best | :09:43. | :09:52. | |
option is to evacuate. Two years ago, this video warning | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
people how to behave if there was a terrorist attack | :09:58. | :09:59. | |
at work was put out by police. You can watch this, it is four | :10:00. | :10:07. | |
minutes long and it is practical, common-sense. | :10:08. | :10:08. | |
It has been part of a message of vigilance put out by senior | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
I think anyone seeing the intelligence we are seeing on a | :10:12. | :10:19. | |
daily basis would be concerned. I think if you look at it alongside | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
the capabilities we have today, there is no cause to be frightened, | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
but people would be concerned. The reach of people overseas trying to | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
influence people in the UK to commit attacks is significant. | :10:33. | :10:33. | |
They have warned it was a matter of when, not if, | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
Today it appears they've been proved right. | :10:37. | :10:44. | |
You will have seen Lord Harris in that piece. | :10:45. | :10:47. | |
Well, just a few months ago Lord Harris wrote a comprehensive | :10:48. | :10:50. | |
report on the terror threat to the capital and how | :10:51. | :10:52. | |
That was at the request of the Mayor of London. | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
We can speak to Lord Harris now on the phone from Westminster, | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
where he has been in lock down all day. | :11:00. | :11:01. | |
First of all just tell me what's happening where you are. | :11:02. | :11:04. | |
I am in the room that I was another four hours ago when the attack | :11:05. | :11:13. | |
actually took place. Particularly when we heard bangs outside and | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
shouting, because we're just in a that overlooks where I think the | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
alleged perpetrator was shot, we barricaded ourselves in with desks | :11:25. | :11:30. | |
and chairs and we have been waiting advice as to when it is safe to | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
leave, which is yet to arrive. Obviously there are seven of this | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
year, we are all deeply shocked. Obviously our thoughts are with the | :11:43. | :11:45. | |
police officer's family and the family of those -- families of those | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
who have been killed as part of this attack on Westminster Bridge, but | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
the reality is that having looked at this in detail, only a few months | :11:56. | :12:02. | |
ago, this was something that clearly we have to expecting some form. I'm | :12:03. | :12:08. | |
pleased that it looks as though all the emergency and contingency | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
measures seem to have clicked into place in the way that you would | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
expect. We will unpick some of your thoughts about how prepared we work, | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
but are you hearing any more about the current situation? Police are | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
clear they think there was only one attacker but you are currently still | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
in lockdown? I think they are following the procedure that she | :12:31. | :12:32. | |
would expect them to follow which is until you can establish definitely | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
that there is not an attacker, you have to assume there might be | :12:39. | :12:41. | |
somebody there, which is why we have been told that when we are moved we | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
will be moved essentially under escort through what is declared as a | :12:48. | :12:53. | |
safe zone. The Palace of Westminster is an absolute rabbit warren of | :12:54. | :12:59. | |
nooks and crannies and clearly the fear is, I think it is probably | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
unlikely but it has to be taken seriously, that there is simply | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
still hiding in the premises or, worse, somebody on the loose running | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
around London. That is why police are taking these precautions and why | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
they would be wanting to be absolutely satisfied that they have | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
covered that all before they allow the normal movement to take place. | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
Lord Harris, given your expertise and your review, one of your | :13:25. | :13:27. | |
recommendations was extreme use of temporary barriers and more | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
preparatory nurse for an attack on the Thames, we understand the attack | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
started on Westminster Bridge. What is your assessment of how we coped? | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
I think the immediate thing is that the response times... I are watching | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
news media in this very small room we have been in with colleagues, it | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
looks as if the emergency response was extremely rapid, external armed | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
officers were on the scene very quickly, the Ambulance Service, all | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
of that moving very rapidly, the air ambulance deployed. It all looks | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
like it worked well, there will be a debrief under review afterwards, | :14:10. | :14:12. | |
obviously. Could this have been prevented? One of the issues I | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
looked at in my report was about vehicle borne attacks, I recommended | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
increased use of bollards. There are some areas in London which are well | :14:22. | :14:24. | |
protected by that but Westminster Bridge, those of you who know it, it | :14:25. | :14:31. | |
is incredibly crowded most of the time and it is just a | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
straightforward pavement, so somebody could try out of the | :14:35. | :14:40. | |
traffic and into pedestrians, that looks as though that is what | :14:41. | :14:43. | |
happened. Thank you, Lord Harris, reporting | :14:44. | :14:46. | |
from lockdown Westminster. We wish him well and hope he is able to be | :14:47. | :14:49. | |
released soon. If you're just joining us, | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
police are dealing with what they've described as a terrorist | :14:54. | :14:55. | |
incident at Parliament. An officer was stabbed to death | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
jeering an attack on the Houses of Parliament. | :15:02. | :15:02. | |
A woman also died and around ten other people were injured as a car | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. | :15:06. | :15:07. | |
A woman was pulled out of the river, alive but with serious injuries. | :15:08. | :15:10. | |
Eyewitnesses have described what's thought to have been a second car | :15:11. | :15:12. | |
Nearby a man wielding a knife was seen running through the gates | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
of the Palace of Westminster, where he stabbed an officer. | :15:17. | :15:20. | |
And the BBC understands that the Foreign Officer Minister, | :15:21. | :15:22. | |
Tobias Ellwood, spent 15 minutes giving mouth to mouth resuscitation | :15:23. | :15:24. | |
to the police officer who was stabbed at Westminster, | :15:25. | :15:26. | |
Police are telling us this evening that additional officers - | :15:27. | :15:33. | |
including firearms officers - were immediately sent to the scene. | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
Extra armed and unarmed police officers will be on duty | :15:37. | :15:39. | |
Joining me now is Professor John Gearson, Professor | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
of National Security Studies at Kings' College. | :15:44. | :15:46. | |
We hoped we'd never see these sorts of scenes again, | :15:47. | :15:48. | |
but our security services have been preparing for this for months. | :15:49. | :15:51. | |
What's your assessment of the response? | :15:52. | :16:00. | |
I think it is clear from the nature of the attack that lots of the | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
passive security measures prevented the vehicles being able to drive | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
against the main gates into Parliament, the vehicle had to go | :16:11. | :16:13. | |
along the pavement from the middle of the bridge going through | :16:14. | :16:20. | |
pedestrians. What we have seen is a combination of the attacks we have | :16:21. | :16:23. | |
seen in Europe and the rest of the world, vehicles used to drive | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
against completely innocent civilians and individual violent | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
attacks against members of the security services, police or the | :16:33. | :16:36. | |
military using knives in this case. It is almost impossible to be | :16:37. | :16:40. | |
completely invincible in these situations, yet a police officer has | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
been stabbed to death, he Mr Bean surrounded by other armed officers, | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
that is an area for concern? -- he must have been surrounded by other | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
armed officers. Parliament is probably one of the best protected | :16:54. | :16:56. | |
places in the world but it is also meant to be open to members of the | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
public to come in and out, so there is a desire not to turn it into | :17:03. | :17:04. | |
something isolated from society. We don't know the details but the | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
officer stabbed was probably one of the officers right up front of | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
house, at the point at which public as to Parliament, hundreds every | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
day, want their photograph taken standing in front of these quite | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
flimsy gates which allow vehicles in and out of Parliament. What happened | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
thereafter I think demonstrates the resilience of Parliamentary | :17:26. | :17:27. | |
security, the individual is not able to go any further other than a few | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
steps inside the front of Parliament. Police have said, | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
Assistant Commander Mark Rowley, said they believe the attacker was | :17:38. | :17:40. | |
working alone yet we see armed officers on the streets of London | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
tonight, is that a message of reassurance? Yes, there was a | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
concern that there might be individuals choosing to imitate the | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
actions of this... If it turns out to be an individual. But before they | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
are sure who they were and that they were working alone there might be a | :17:58. | :17:59. | |
presumption that there are others thinking about going out and doing | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
an attack, it is appropriate that the Commissioner to talk in these | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
terms. Our systems worked but it has demonstrated a certain level of | :18:11. | :18:13. | |
ability that you have to accepted living in a free society. Thank you | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
so much for your analysis. So, as you've been hearing, | :18:17. | :18:17. | |
police are dealing with a major terrorist incident in which three | :18:18. | :18:20. | |
people have died. Around ten people were injured | :18:21. | :18:22. | |
when a car ploughed into pedestrians A woman was pulled out of the river, | :18:23. | :18:24. | |
alive but with serious injuries. NHS London and the London Ambulance | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
Service have been working closely with other emergency services. | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
Our reporter Yvonne Hall is at King's College Hospital, | :18:32. | :18:33. | |
which has been receiving patients What's the latest that you have? | :18:34. | :18:48. | |
Tonight at least five people injured in the terrorist attack are being | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
treated here at King's College Hospital. It is not known yet who | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
they are or how badly hurt they are, the tonight the hospital has | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
declared a major incident and urges the public not to come to A unless | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
absolutely crucial. As you have heard, police have confirmed four | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
people killed and 20 injured in the attack, including several other | :19:11. | :19:13. | |
police officers, a group of French schoolchildren and a woman rescued | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
from the Thames. Many of those have been taken to Saint Thomas's | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
Spittal, which is closest to Parliament, a doctor there is a bad | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
one person had died from her injuries and others were being | :19:26. | :19:28. | |
treated the catastrophic injuries. Tonight all the medical teams | :19:29. | :19:31. | |
involved in the aftermath of the attack are being praised for their | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
hard work and dedication. Back to you. Thank you, Avon hall. | :19:36. | :19:38. | |
One of the areas that has been closed off all afternoon | :19:39. | :19:40. | |
Waterloo station has also been affected. | :19:41. | :19:43. | |
From Waterloo Bridge on the edge of the police cordon, | :19:44. | :19:45. | |
let's speak now to our transport correspondent Tom Edwards. | :19:46. | :19:48. | |
And it feels a little bit busier on Waterloo Bridge, I think that is | :19:49. | :20:02. | |
because Westminster Bridge is still closed due to the incident. I have | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
spoken to commuters as they head home, a real sense of shock and | :20:07. | :20:10. | |
bewilderment. This is what they had to say. It has been expected for a | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
long time, it is amazing that have not been more attacks on London, | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
they must have been doing a good job. | :20:21. | :20:23. | |
Very shocked, I was in a meeting so I heard it rather late, only | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
realised when I had lots and lots of texts and messages from family and | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
friends. Quite shaky because we are quite | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
close, just over the river, but it was bound to happen at some stage, I | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
feel. If we look at the roads, Waterloo | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
Bridge is running OK at the moment. If we look at the jam Cams, this is | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
the area to the south of Westminster Bridge, normally it would be very | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
busy, nothing going through at the moment due to the cordons. This is | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
the River Thames, only police boats have been using this section of the | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
Thames all afternoon, we have been there that long. Trains are running, | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
Westminster chewed station is still closed, British Transport Police | :21:09. | :21:11. | |
have said they are putting more officers on to their network to | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
reassure passengers. Thank you, Tom Evans at Waterloo Bridge. | :21:17. | :21:17. | |
The Mayor has already been speaking about the tremendous bravery | :21:18. | :21:19. | |
displayed by security services this afternoon. | :21:20. | :21:20. | |
Our political editor, Tim Donovan is at City Hall. | :21:21. | :21:31. | |
They closed at City Hall to the public shortly after news reached | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
them of what had happened at Westminster. The mayor has been here | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
all afternoon, quite evidently has been in regular contact with police, | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
the gold command. In a statement released earlier he said he had been | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
speaking to the acting Commissioner, Craig Mackey, who as we have heard | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
is not somebody we have been hearing from publicly because he is a | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
significant witness. The mayor said in his statement he was thinking of | :22:01. | :22:07. | |
all the families involved, as you say, he praised the bravery of the | :22:08. | :22:10. | |
emergency services. It was not clear at the time that the statement was | :22:11. | :22:13. | |
issued that he knew a police officer had died but clearly that will add | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
to the sense of reassurance, what was perhaps expected from him on | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
this day as he makes his way to this Cabinet committee, Cobra at | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
Whitehall, as well as being given an update on the counterterrorist | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
operation and whether it is a closed incident there will be discussion | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
about how to get Westminster back to normal as soon as possible and to | :22:35. | :22:38. | |
how you provide reassurance. The mayor today ineffective speaking for | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
the city, not just its inhabitants, but the world as well -- mayor today | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
in effect is speaking the city. We'll have the latest on this | :22:47. | :22:48. | |
developing story in a moment - let's just pause now for a quick | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
look at the weather -- with Tomasz Schafernaker. The | :22:52. | :22:59. | |
rain will return tonight, it was pretty soggy for many others today. | :23:00. | :23:07. | |
The rain has push towards the east but will probably return later. I | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
think it will be dry across the capital for the time being, then the | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
rain will return Gerina the latter part of the evening and overnight. | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
Rain around by the time we get to first thing on Thursday. | :23:20. | :23:27. | |
Temperatures overnight 506 degrees. Touch five or 6 degrees. The rain | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
hangs around for a time but by around midday we will start to see | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
the sunshine creeping through, it will be a bit breezy. A better day | :23:37. | :23:42. | |
tomorrow on the weather front, still not desperately mild, temperatures | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
around ten or 12 degrees. Tomorrow evening it looks like maybe a few | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
spots of rain once again, nothing too heavy. It looks like the rain | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
would stay to the south of the capital. Friday looks like a pretty | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
strong breeze coming out of the East North East but at least it will be | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
mostly dry, this is the start of a fairly settled period of weather, | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
Friday looks fairly bright, as far as the outlook is concerned, the | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
weekend is looking pretty dry. Not a promising clear blue skies, the | :24:14. | :24:17. | |
temperatures will rise next week we could be back into the high teens, | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
so some good news. Back to you, Alex. | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
So, we were always told another terrorist attack | :24:25. | :24:26. | |
here in London wasn't a matter of if, but when. | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
Police are treating this as a major terrorist incident. | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
So what's been the mood amongst Londoners as the capital reels | :24:36. | :24:37. | |
Louisa Preston has been finding out. | :24:38. | :24:43. | |
I was just walking across the bridge and suddenly a bus stopped and | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
everybody started screaming and people came off the bus and they | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
seemed very upset, then I saw what appeared to be a trainer by the side | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
of the road, on the other side of the road there was a body, when I | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
looked further rep there was another body and when I looked over the side | :25:01. | :25:03. | |
of the bridge there appeared to be a body in the water as well. | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
As we pulled onto Westminster Bridge we saw people laying on the bridge, | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
then the SWAT team turned up, the paramedics, they asked us to abandon | :25:15. | :25:24. | |
our vehicles. About to go into New Palace Yard, | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
which is where the attack was taking place. And was met by about 40 | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
people running towards me saying get back, get back, there's been | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
shooting, there's been shooting. Everybody was just shellshocked, | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
wondering where to look, what had happened, then the sort of | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
realisation and the security personnel and paramedics moving in. | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
For passers-by, and this unlike myself coming out just afterwards, | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
you are completely mesmerised by the scene confronting you -- and people | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
like myself coming out afterwards. It is on my doorstep and it is very | :26:04. | :26:06. | |
frightening for everybody here, including all the visitors in London | :26:07. | :26:08. | |
today. The thoughts of Londoners caught up | :26:09. | :26:15. | |
in the tragic events. Back now to our home affairs | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
correspondent Nick Beake New Scotland Yard, four dead, 20 injured | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
in the attack on Westminster Bridge, police will be asked questions about | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
how this could happen but London has been on the highest of alerts for a | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
long time? For the past two and a half years | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
the terror threat level has been rated as severe, that was raised in | :26:38. | :26:41. | |
line with the emergence of the so-called Islamic State group, since | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
then we have seen attacks in Paris, Nice, a year ago in Brussels and | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
London has rejoined the dreadful list again. Police seem to believe | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
it was a so-called lone wolf attack, someone acting alone, that they will | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
take no questions and look for possible associates and whether the | :27:01. | :27:03. | |
individual was involved in any wider web. For Londoners in the coming | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
days they will see a difference, there will be more police on the | :27:09. | :27:12. | |
streets, we're told that as a message of reassurance rather than | :27:13. | :27:15. | |
the terror threat level being raised, it has not gone up today. We | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
were told an attack would happen at some point but that does not make | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
the pain and the shock for many people any easier to deal with when | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
it finally comes. It certainly does not. | :27:29. | :27:33. | |
Thank you. That's it from BBC London. Our colleagues on the news | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
channel will continue the coverage as the situation in Westminster | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
continues to develop. We will be back during the ten o'clock news | :27:41. | :27:42. | |
but, for now, good evening. | :27:43. | :27:45. |