Rabat – A driver crashed into security barriers surrounding Parliament in London, injuring cyclists and pedestrians. Police arrested the driver on the scene.
“At 07:37 today (0637 GMT) a car collided with the gates in front of Parliament, the driver was arrested by the police on the scene, and several pedestrians were injured,” London’s police said on Twitter.
At 0737hrs today, a car was in collision with barriers outside the Houses of Parliament. The male driver of the car was detained by officers at the scene. A number of pedestrians have been injured. Officers remain at the scene. We will issue further info when we have it.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) August 14, 2018
On social media, bystanders shared pictures of armed police surrounding the vehicle and pulling out the driver before taking him away.
“We treat this as a terrorist incident,” Anti-Terrorism Chief Neil Basu told reporters.
The driver is being held for “suspicion of terrorist acts,” Basu said. “He is not cooperating at the moment.” The chief stressing that the “priority” of the police was to establish his identity and his motive.
“It seemed like a deliberate act,” said a witness, Ewalina Ochab, to the UK’s Press Association.
“I was walking across the street, I heard some noise and someone shouted. I turned around and saw a gray car rolling very fast near the gates, maybe even on the sidewalk.”
“I looked to my right and there was a cyclist on the ground, obviously injured,” said PA James Maker, a cyclist who was there a few minutes after the attack.
“We suspected there was something serious because it was closed. The London attack on Westminster Bridge has been redesigned. Normally, they had put protective barriers,” Emmanuel Guy, a French tourist, told AFP.
