Officially, fire arms incident! At 2.40 pm today! MPs locked in chambers, security lock down! Updates from met police on Twitter! Treating it as a terrorist incident! http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/live-shots-fired-parliament-london-12780906
I have a friend who is there on holiday. Here's what she's posted to her Facebook: " I'm ok. I was very near the terrorist attack and heard gunshots. Was locked in at St Margaret's Church and then sent out while police formed barricades and when dogs smelling bombs they told us to leave. PRay for London."
First Images of the shot terrorist released. You can see the knife on the ground in one photo. http://metro.co.uk/2017/03/22/first-picture-of-london-terror-attack-suspect-6527231/
Now he is a martyr, This will inspire others. better he got charged and sent to prison. They don't like that.
I understand your frustration, all of this has happened before and dipping bullets in pig's blood actually made a difference. But with the problem dug in like a tick in London and other western capitals, there will be no relief to be had until the terrorists start hitting the lawmakers. Attacking average citizens like this is a sucker punch designed to make everyone afraid to leave their homes. It's unfortunately a very effective tactic and if it continues you'll see an impact on the economy. Even GW Bush saw that. After 9/11 a lot of Americans curtailed vacations, purchases and business ventures because their faith in the government declined sharply and in waves. The attack itself started it. Then discovering it was a few guys with box cutters sank American perspectives on safety even more. Then the Anthrax scare drove consumer confidence even lower. The stock market took hits as did other aspects of the economy which prompted GW to beg Americans to spend money. Lots of us even got a bonus tax check ($500 or so) designed to keep Americans spending. It reminded me of all the people I knew who were prepping for Y2K. I admit my wife and I did a minor amount of it as well, but no more than we already did for hurricanes and I fought the urge to buy guns and a generator. At some point the UK could easily fall into the same sort of mania and the economy would suffer. Unless, of course, the terrorists attacked the lawmakers instead. Then you might actually see the economy improve!
Westminster attacker named as radical Islamist preacher Abu Izzadeen from Hackney who urged Muslims to kill the police on YouTube video. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/abu-izzadeen-london-attacker-named-met-police-westminster-terror-a7644661.html Thought it was a bit soon..Now it might not be, as that guy is still in prison? Mistakes already..Why are they panicked?
Five people have died, including the attacker, and about 40 were injured. Here's a photo of the scene from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39355108 :
Westminster's blood lust for war in the middle east came to it's back door yesterday, and everyone was surprised?
Not really surprised as it's been a question of 'when' and not 'if' for some time now. I do feel sorry for the people who died or were injured, just like I feel sorry about those who get killed or maimed in the middle east on a daily basis.
The media and the government don't care. Odds on the first question on Question Time tonight will be, "in the wake of the recent terrorist attack in Westminster, should the police force now be armed?" And then we'll have armed police as standard patrolling the streets, because the public will accept that it's now a reality...
Earlier yesterday Amnesty International had set up this protest near the Houses of Parliament to draw attention to UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia, who have used British made weapons including cluster bombs against civilians in Yemen. That doesn't justify the attack of course but puts a certain perspective on it maybe.
There was a caller on Radio 5 earlier today who started saying that ISIS are being funded and armed by our allies Saudi Arabia, and instantly Nicky "Wheel of Fortune" Campbell started calling him out as a conspiracy theorist, then when he went back to hear his response someone in the BBC had cut him off. Oh we can't have people saying things like that on the radio, only fake news on the BBC. Says it all.