Earlier today March 22nd, an unidentified knife man mowed down pedestrians than attempted to reach inside British Parliament in London, UK. The suspect only reached in front of the main Parliament entrance before he was shot but captured alive by London's metropolitan police. Coincidentally, it happens to be the 1st anniversary of the Belgium attacks. It has been roughly 10 years since the 7/7 attacks on London. The attacker drove a Hyundai SUV purposely into 10+ people on the Westminster Bridge that connects the financial district of London on the eastern side of the Thames to Parliament and Westminster area on the West Bank. One injured woman was rescued from the Thames while other people lay on the bridge's side walks, in the road and the buses were stopped halfway on the bridge. Many pedestrians, a combination of locals, tourists, bus drivers, policemen and parliamentary workers in the area took time to evacuate the Westminster Bridge and Parliament area not thinking that the erratic driving was an attack but assumed it was drunk driving or someone unfamiliar with driving altogether. Parliament was placed on locked down. Most people in Central London have since returned home. Keep in mind that London is a huge city than it is often portrayed on TV. The city's metro area spreads out for 606 square miles. While Central London is the main focus of the attacks, other parts of the city are still safe and are adjusting to the news in kind. As can be expected, the London Tube had been closed and transportation is spotty. London Mayor Siddiq Khan has reassured the 8 million residents, the wider country and visitors that London will get on with its daily life and that the city is still relatively safe in spite of today's events.
It is worth noting that in London, gun violence and shooting massacres on the scale of America do not happen. There are armed robberies and knife attacks, but shootings and attacks on public buildings on this scale don't happen often in London or many British cities. Most British police also don't carry military style weapons only specialized police carry such weapons which is why you see some London police officers armed almost like bank security guards and why the American police resemble the military. When attacks like this happen, it shocks most Londoners, even the police who anticipated events like this.
Comments
Post a Comment