Yesterday at 14:40 pm, a small dark 4×4 charged onto Westminster Bridge and rode along the pavement making contact with civilians going about their daily business. Once over the bridge the driver of the car emerged with a knife and ran around the corner where he proceeded to attack a police officer guarding the palace of Westminster.
All in all five people have been killed and over forty have been injured with many of them still in a critical condition in St Thomas’ Hospital.
Amongst the five fatalities two have been named, PC Keith Palmer and Aysha Frade.
PC Keith Palmer (48) was on duty protecting the Palace of Westminster and was stabbed to death by the assailant. A nearby MP Tobias Ellwood who lost his brother in the 2002 Bali Attacks tried, along with paramedics to give mouth to mouth to save Palmer but to no avail.
Aysha Frade was a college worker, walking across Westminster Bridge when she was hit by the assailant and his vehicle.
The assailant who stabbed PC Palmer and hit Aysha Frade is also amongst the five casualties. He was shot by police soon after the attack on PC Palmer. It has been reported that he was British-born and known to MI5 as a terror suspect.
As a result of the attack there was mass disruption in the surrounding area. Westminster tube station was closed as well as the bridge itself which remains shut to allow the police investigation to continue.
On the other side of the river the London Eye was shutdown leaving people stuck on the popular tourist attraction for up to two hours.
As regards the fate of those in the Palace of Westminster itself, they were left inside under lockdown for over three hours before being let out not long after 18:00.
Parliament resumes today as a stand of defiance against those who sought to bring terror to the capital yesterday. By the looks of things on social media, it seems not much terror ensued despite the commotion.
London has been on high alert for many years and with the swathe of attacks across Europe last year it was only a matter of time. The Government cannot stop every threat and as a result our duty as citizens of Great Britain is to remain united when an attack such as this does happen.
DISCLAIMER: The articles on our website are not endorsed by, or the opinions of Shout Out UK (SOUK), but exclusively the views of the author.
Christopher Sharp
Award winning Dyspraxic Journalist who's been runover by a lorry (how many of those do you know? ;-) )
I am a recent graduate from King's College London where I studied War Studies and History
I am also the co-founder of LGBTQ+ charity Racing Pride
